Australian house where eight children killed to be demolished

The house where an Australian mother allegedly killed eight children, most of them her own, will likely be demolished in keeping with indigenous culture to make way for a memorial, a government official said on Monday.

The fate of the house in the tropical northern city of Cairns was being discussed while a judge denied a request to transfer the murder case against 37-year-old Raina Mersane Ina Thaiday to Queensland state’s Mental Health Court.

Thaiday is the mother of the four boys and three of the girls who were slain. The eighth child was her niece. The Queensland government agreed to the demolition of the home because of the horrific nature of the killings and in keeping with indigenous cultural beliefs, Queensland MP Gavin King said.

“After extensive consultation we will remove the house behind me,” King said as he spoke to the media in a park where the dead children used to play.