Sick mum killed two kids and lived with their decomposing bodies for two weeks

Eliara Paz Nardes has been jailed for 64 years by a court in Brazil after killing her two children Joaquim, three, and Alice, 10, whose bodies were found decomposing in her apartment

A mum who killed her two children and lived with their decomposing bodies for two weeks has been jailed in Brazil.

Eliara Paz Nardes has been jailed for 64 years by a court in Guarapuava, in the Brazilian state of Parana for first killing her three-year-old son Joaquim and then her daughter Alice, aged 10. The court heard that the 33-year-old smothered Joaquim with a pillow and then hanged Alice after dosing her with a sedative.

Nardes was arrested 15 days later when neighbours complained of the sickening smell coming from her apartment. Inside police found the horror movie scene of her slaughter with her children's rotting corpses laid out on a bed, said prosecutors.A jury took less than seven hours to find Nardes guilty of double murder on November 5 after judges dismissed the defence claim that he had suffered a breakdown. She was also found guilty of concealing corpses.

Judges said her sentence was exemplary because the children were so young they had not been able to even try to defend themselves. Nardes, who has been in jail on remand since her arrest in August 2022, did not attend court for the sentencing. Her lawyers, though, say they plan to appeal the severity of the sentence.

At the time of her arrest police officers said that the accused had told them that she felt unable to continue providing for her kids – who had different fathers - either emotionally or financially, and had planned to commit suicide afterwards but had not gone through with it.

And police spokesperson Ana Hass reportedly said: "When we entered the apartment, in her room, we found the children lying down. They looked like they were sleeping in the bed, but they were already dead and in an advanced state of decomposition.

"She said the boy was killed by suffocation with a pillow and, later, the girl was strangled with a scarf, but we are waiting for a report to confirm this. The suspect would have committed the crimes against her own children 14, 15 days ago. She claimed she was very tired and alone, and could no longer afford to raise her children, not just financially but also emotionally. As a result, she said she intended to kill herself, but as the children had no one to count on, according to her, she ended up killing them first.”