Australian mother charged over death of 8 children in her home

Remember the 8 siblings who were found stabbed to death at their home in Cairns, Australia in the early hours of Friday Dec. 19th? (read here) Well, looks like they were killed by their own mother. 37 year old Mersane Warria (pictured above), has been charged in the deaths of the children, 7 her own, and one her niece. 

The children – four girls and four boys – were aged between two and 14 years, Australian police said

Warria pictured being taken away by paramedics after the massacre at her home on Friday

Warria, who is in hospital where she is recovering from stab wounds, was charged with eight counts of murder in a bedside hearing at Cairns Base Hospital in the northern city of Cairnsueensland today Dec. 21st.

Police didn't say exactly how the children died but they are suspected to have been stabbed to death as several bloody knives were found in the home, while one or two were suffocated. Police say they are not looking for other suspects and the woman is yet to reveal what motivated such an attack on her own family.

Warria had her seven children for five different fathers.

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8 siblings found stabbed to death at their home in Cairns, Australia

The bodies of eight children who are siblings and aged between 18 months and 15-years-old, were found at a home in Cairns, Australia in the early hours of today Dec. 19th following a massacre.

Their mother was also stabbed but she survived and is currently in critical condition in the hospital.

Detective Inspector Bruno Asnicar said that the woman was the mother of seven of the dead children with the other child a relation. He described the massacre as a 'tragic and traumatic event'. Scores of detectives, paramedics and forensic officers have swarmed over the home on Murray St in Manoora, around 4km west of the coastal town's main tourist strip. 

Details about what investigators found inside the house has not been revealed but a neighbour said she had been told there were bloody scenes 'everywhere' inside. Officers who arrived first on the scene said it was like 'something out of a horror movie'. Specialist police officers are now on their way from Brisbane to help with the situation and the crime scene is completely locked down.

'There's not much else we can say, but what we have a range of strategies in place to support the family through this very difficult time,' Detective Inspector Asnicar said.

'It's a tragic and traumatic with so many deceased in one place. It's right up there with some of the most serious things I've ever had to deal with.' 

Ms Thaiday said another sibling, a 20-year-old man, arrived home to discover his brothers and sisters dead inside the house. 

He is now being consoled by other family members. 

'I'm going to see him now, he needs comforting,' Ms Thaiday said. She described the family and extended relatives as close-knit and many live in surrounding suburbs. 

'We're a big family and most of us are from the (Torres) Strait,' she said, adding that she rushed to the scene after hearing about the incident on the radio.  

The woman at the centre of the Cairns family massacre was ‘happy go lucky and seemed to really love her kids’, Daily Mail Australia has been told.

Robert Struber, who lived for 20 years in the house where the stabbing murders took place said he had spoken with the 34-year-old on several occasions while visiting his former neighbours. 

He said the last time he had seen the mother a few months ago she was ‘friendly and happy to chat’ and that she had mainly looked after her large family.

Mr Struber had not met the father of the children.

He said the street had a mixture of Aboriginal families and people from the Torres Strait and Cook Islands. he moved out of the four bedroom house two years ago because it was too large, and said that following the tragedy he ‘never wanted to go back inside it’. 

Mr Struber described the 34-year-old woman at the centre of the family massacre as ‘happy go lucky and seemed to really love her kids’. He had spoken with her on several occasions while visiting his former neighbours.

He said she had mainly looked after her large family well. Mr Struber had not met the father of the children.

Police said it would be several hours before forensic officers would be able to complete their work inside the house - while detectives continued inquiries to establish what had led up to the slaughter. 

Detectives rushed to the house in Murray Street at about 11.20am today after they received reports a woman had suffered serious injuries. 

The street has been branded a crime scene and the area has been locked down. Their home is a rented Housing Commission residence. 

Source: Daily Mail UK

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Goliath Encounter: Puppy-Sized Spider Surprises Scientist in Rainforest

 

Piotr Naskrecki was taking a nighttime walk in a rainforest in Guyana, when he heard rustling as if something were creeping underfoot. When he turned on his flashlight, he expected to see a small mammal, such as a possum or a rat.

"When I turned on the light, I couldn't quite understand what I was seeing," said Naskrecki, an entomologist and photographer at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology.

A moment later, he realized he was looking not at a brown, furry mammal, but an enormous, puppy-size spider.

Known as the South American Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi), the colossal arachnid is the world's largest spider, according to Guinness World Records. Itsleg span can reach up to a foot (30 centimeters), or about the size of "a child's forearm," with a body the size of "a large fist," Naskrecki told Live Science. And the spider can weigh more than 6 oz. (170 grams) — about as much as a young puppy, the scientist wrote on his blog. [See Photos of the Goliath Birdeater Spider]

Some sources say the giant huntsman spider, which has a larger leg span, is bigger than the birdeater. But the huntsman is much more delicate than the hefty birdeater — comparing the two would be "like comparing a giraffe to an elephant," Naskrecki said.

The birdeater's enormity is evident from the sounds it makes. "Its feet have hardened tips and claws that produce a very distinct, clicking sound, not unlike that of a horse's hooves hitting the ground," he wrote, but "not as loud."

Prickly hairs and 2-inch fangs

When Naskrecki approached the imposing creature in the rainforest, it would rub its hind legs against its abdomen. At first, the scientist thought the behavior was "cute," he said, but then he realized the spider was sending out a cloud of hairs with microscopic barbs on them. When these hairs get in the eyes or other mucous membranes, they are "extremely painful and itchy," and can stay there for days, he said. [Creepy-Crawly Gallery: See Spooky Photos of Spiders]

But its prickly hairs aren't the birdeater's only line of defense; it also sports a pair of 2-inch-long (5 centimeters) fangs. Although the spider's bite is venomous, it's not deadly to humans. But it would still be extremely painful, "like driving a nail through your hand," Naskrecki said.

And the eight-legged beast has a third defense mechanism up its hairy sleeve. The hairs on the front of the spider's body have tiny hooks and barbs that make a hissing sound when they rub against each other, "sort of like pulling Velcro apart," Naskrecki said.

Yet despite all that, the spider doesn't pose a threat to humans. Even if it bites you, "a chicken can probably do more damage," Naskrecki said.

Bird eater or mostly harmless?

Despite its name, the birdeater doesn't usually eat birds, although it is certainly capable of killing small mammals. "They will essentially attack anything that they encounter," Naskrecki said.

The spider hunts in leaf litter on the ground at night, so the chances of it encountering a bird are very small, he said. However, if it found a nest, it could easily kill the parents and the chicks, he said, adding that the spider species has also been known to puncture and drink bird eggs.

The spider will eat frogs and insects, but its main prey is actually earthworms, which come out at night when it's humid. "Earthworms are very nutritious," Naskrecki said.

Birdeaters are not very common spiders. "I've been working in the tropics in South America for many, many years, and in the last 10 to 15 years, I only ran across the spider three times," Naskrecki.

After catching the specimen he found in Guyana, which was female, Naskrecki took her back to his lab to study. She's now deposited in a museum.

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