A 44 year old man is beginning a double life sentence for the murder of his two young sons in Co Mayo.
Sanjeev Chada from Ballinkillen, County Carlow strangled the boys at Ballintubber on July 29th last year.
Our Courts Correspondent Francesca Comyn reports:
10 year old Eoghan Chada and his 5 year old brother Ruairí were reported missing to gardai when they didn't return from a Sunday evening bowling trip with their father.
Their bodies were found the following afternoon in the boot of Sanjeev Chada's car which he'd crashed into a stone wall near Westport in Co Mayo – many miles from the family home in Carlow.
The 44 year old had strangled the boys with a rope before making an attempt on his own life.
Today in court he kept his head bowed as he pled guilty to their murders.
He told gardai he killed his sons to spare them the pain of a broken home after he was believed to have defrauded 56 thousand euro from community funds to bet on the stock market.
He later said he didn't think anyone could have made a bigger mistake.
In her victim impact statmetn the boys mother Kathleen called the killings a betrayal and asked how can evil such as this be hidden for so long in a seemingly loving father?
