Margaret Dale Hawke pleaded guilty in Perth High Court on Friday to murdering her 10-year-old daughter and two sons, aged seven and four months. A mother stabbed, strangled, and suffocated her three children before burning their bodies in a house fire in the western Australian city of Port Hedland.
They died in July last year at the family’s home in Port Hedland, shocking the city of some 16,000 people. The court heard that Hawke strangled her daughter with an electrical cord and stabbed her eight times in the chest and heart.
Her seven-year-old son was found with three stab wounds to the chest and neck injuries from having also been strangled. Hawke admitted to suffocating her young son before setting her house on fire and walking into the street as she was engulfed in flames.
Margaret Dale Hawke Age
Margaret Dale Hawke is 36 years old.
Margaret Dale Hawke Murdering her daughter and two sons
Prosecutor Justin Whalley SC told the court that a witness described her as “really calm” as she watched her burn. Another of hers heard her say: ‘She has taken everything from Me.’ Mr. Whalley said Hawke then screamed and cried, saying: ‘My babies, my babies… They don’t have to suffer anymore.’
Members of the public tried to enter the house and save the children, but it was too dangerous. She told police that she knew of no other way to help her children before admitting that she had started the fire. ‘My three babies… I hurt my babies. I did it to my babies,’ she said.
Firefighters put out the fire. The body of Hawke’s eldest son was found on a mattress in a room at the front of the property. Her daughter and another son of hers were found in a back room. Ella Hawke was taken to the hospital where she later admitted to staff that she had murdered her children.
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‘I don’t know why I did what I did. Maybe to stop the pain in all of us, ”she heard in court that she told police in an interview after the incident. Whalley said Hawke told the children that she loved them and apologized before killing her daughter, followed by her children.
He said an arson investigation found the fire was ignited deliberately from two points of ignition in the home. None of the children had soot found in their respiratory systems, indicating that they likely died before the fire was ignited.
In court on Friday, Hawke was overcome with grief. She sobbed on the bench and repeatedly banged her head against a balustrade until security stopped her.
Judge Michael Lundberg heard the sentencing submissions before adjourning his sentencing decision until May 5.
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