A Colorado mother battling extradition from Britain to the United States reportedly drugged and urged her children to close their eyes before fatally shooting and stabbing two of them, a court heard on Wednesday.
Kimberlee Singler was detained in London on December 30 after flying to the United Kingdom, days after the corpses of her children, ages 7 and 9, were discovered at her Colorado Springs home on December 19.
Singler, 36, is contesting American extradition attempts on the basis that her alleged crimes, which she denies, carry an automatic sentence of life without parole, which her legal team claims violates European human rights law.
Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights—a legally binding statute followed by 46 countries, including the United Kingdom—prohibits “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Westminster Magistrates Court in Central London heard details about how she allegedly murdered her children and then covered up her crimes.
The Colorado Springs Police Department and the FBI have filed seven charges against her, including two counts of first-degree murder after deliberation and two counts of murder of someone under the age of 12 by a person in a position of trust. She is also accused of attempting to murder a third child, aged 11, who survived despite significant injuries and was instructed to lie about the event, according to the court.
The surviving youngster initially informed authorities that the offender was a guy who entered the home but later told a foster carer that her mother was responsible for the attacks. Singler told the court that God told her to do it.
Singler, who will testify during the three-day hearing, spoke simply to confirm her name and date of birth. Her attorney, Edward Fitzgerald KC, stated that she disputes the charges against her and maintains her innocence.
Joel Smith KC, the attorney representing the US government, stated that the killings occurred during a heated custody struggle between Singler and the children’s father. Singler was instructed to surrender them to his custody, but Smith claimed he failed to do so. On December 19, the day after a court order was granted, officers went to an emergency call at Singler’s house and discovered the two children deceased.
“She shot the first child in the head and stabbed her in the neck, then shot and stabbed the second child in the head and neck. “She attacked the third child in the neck with a knife, causing serious lacerations,” Smith stated. Police discovered the two dead youngsters lying in bed together.
Investigators also discovered live bullets and spent cartridges in a closet, as well as a gun handled by someone who had blood on their hands and a blood-stained knife, according to court testimony. Smith reported finding two empty sleeping drug bottles in the kitchen trash. There had been no signs of a break-in.
“(The surviving child) stated that the defendant instructed the three children to close their eyes; she led the first two children into the bedroom and approached the third child, telling her to close her eyes. “She then cut her on the side of the neck,” Smith explained.
Fitzgerald, who also represented Julian Assange in his long-running extradition case in London, said that it would be illegal to deport someone facing life without parole without considering any mitigating circumstances. He noted that the United Kingdom has 63 prisoners serving life sentences, whereas the United States has 49,000.
“It’s alien to us … to say ‘I would send you to life without parole’ simply due to the category of the offense, without taking into account any of the person’s circumstances,” said him.
“Here is an individual with her first offense, a loving mom, who does this out of the blue,” she says. “Are we to say that this compulsory execution of this punishment of life without parole … might be fine?”
