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Australian mom charged with murder of eight children

Mersane Warria now faces eight counts of murder after being detained Friday on suspicion of murdering seven of her children and a niece.

By Fred Lambert

CAIRNS, Australia, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Police have charged a woman with murder in the deaths of eight children discovered Friday in an Australian home.

Mersane Warria, 37, faces eight counts of murder according to Queensland Police. Warria was charged under her full name of Raina Mersane Ina Thaiday in Cairns, Australia, after the bodies of eight children were discovered in her home in north Queensland on Friday.

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All eight victims -- four boys and four girls -- were children aged between 18 months and 14 years. Warria was mother to seven of the deceased and an aunt to the eighth. According to family members, Warria's 20-year-old son visited the home Friday morning and found his dead siblings as well as his mother, who suffered from laceration wounds.

Australian media reported some of the victims had been stabbed, but police spokesmen declined to confirm that detail and said causes of death, including possible suffocation, were being examined.

Officers indicated they had talked to the 20-year-old but that he was not a suspect. Police spokesmen said Friday that charges were being considered against Warria, but the wounded mother was held under police surveillance until a bedside magistrate hearing on Sunday, when she was officially charged.

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"Everybody is entitled to a fair trial -- our job is to collect evidence and present it to a court," Detective Inspector Bruno Asnicar told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "Our job is not to put false images in peoples heads or speculate."

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott called the killings "an unspeakable crime."

"The news out of Cairns is heartbreaking," Abbott said in a statement. "All parents would feel a gut-wrenching sadness at what has happened."

The incident follows last week's killing of two hostages during a standoff at a chocolate shop in Sydney.

"These are trying days for our country," Abbott said.

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