Man slashes throat of woman

A MAN slit the throat of a woman babysitting her two grandchildren, sexually assaulted one of the children, then barricaded himself inside their home for 14 hours before shooting himself.

A woman returned to her home in Long Island, New York, at about 12.30am on Monday to find her 59-year-old mother lying in a pool of blood in the garage, police said.

Phillip Zagarella, 50, looming in a doorway with a rifle, yelled for the woman to get inside, but she ran to a neighbour’s home and called police to say her children, aged 10 and 13, were still inside, Detective Lieutenant Jack Fitzpatrick said.