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Antoine and Kenniece Ogunkoya aged 10 and 3

Fathers fury with social services over killer mum

August 01, 2007 ITN News

Sick Mum Who Killed Her Kids Is Locked Up

'A father accused social workers on  of "frogmarching" his two children to their deaths'

Sick Mum Who Killed Her Kids Is Locked Up

BBC Video

A dad whose two children were killed by their mentally ill mother today said they were "frogmarched to their deaths" by social services who ignored his concerns.

Jimi Ogunkoya was told he "could not stand in the way of the children's mother" when he told of his fears for his son and daughter's safety.

However, paranoid schizophrenic Viviane Gamor, 29, had delusions the children were not hers and beat Antoine, 10, with a claw hammer before strangling him. The body of his sister Kenniece, three, was found stuffed headfirst in to a black bin bag with cling film wrapped round her face.

After her release from a mental hospital Mr Ogunkoya had told social services and doctors that he feared for the safety of his children but was told he "could not stand in the way of the children's mother" in seeing them.

So he allowed them to sleep over at the mother's east London flat twice, but on the third occasion she killed them while suffering from a schizoid disorder with mood swings.

The Ghanaian-born mother used a claw hammer to beat Antoine about the head, used a ligature to strangle him and then set fire to the carpet where he had crouched in a foetal position trying to protect himself in a narrow gap between a bed and a wall.

Kenniece was discovered on the bed at the flat in Hackney. However, Gamor had delusions her real two children had been still born and they had been swapped in hospital.

She therefore stopped taking her anti-psychotic drugs up to ten days before she killed the pair in her east London flat on January 26 this year.

And two days before the killings a doctor reviewing her treatment had concluded that Gamor posed no risk to the children.

Gamor had been charged with murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.She was given an indefinite hospital order.

In an impact statement read to the Old Bailey, painter and decorator Mr Ogunkoya said: "Someone that I'd known for years is now mentally ill and cannot remember murdering my kids. I know if she was ill the kids wouldn't have been there because the social workers are supposed to protect children.

"So if she is diagnosed as mentally ill that means that the system that I obeyed has frog marched my children to their deaths. They assessed her and found nothing wrong. Well this is pure negligence which will not be tolerated.

"Me and my family are suffering daily because we co-operated."

He added: "I'm not just a dad, I'm a super dad.

"I was that way so I would never lose them so they would know how much they have changed my life and how much I loved them for giving me something to cherish so much.

"My kids came first and they motivated me to do what was right. I wanted to run away with them when Social Services got in touch and said that their mum wanted to see them.

"I had done the hard work. I had the right to want them for myself but I didn't want to teach the kids the wrong way. I obeyed the law and let them go - I wish I had not done that. So now this is what I'm left with, nothing."

Sentencing her Judge Rook QC said: "This case was a truly appalling tragedy.

"The loss of these young lives has led to unimaginable suffering for the children's father Jimi Ogunkoya, a devoted father who cherished your two children and worked so hard to ensure the children were safe and happy and provide a home for them.

"And also to the children's grandparents who played such an important part in their upbringing and looked forward to continue doing so."

He continued: "On the face of it this terrible tragedy could have been avoided if you were not allowed unsupervised access and the children's father's grave concerns had been given weight.

"I acknowledge I say this with the benefit of hindsight and it is not for this court to deal with that issue. I appreciate the issue is far from simple."

He told the court her psychiatrist had come to the conclusion that Gamor had "no intention to harm the children" in a mental health assessment days before the tragedy.

However, he noted: "The issue still remains as to how it was considered that you had sufficiently recovered as to be allowed unsupervised access to your children, particularly over the weekend."

Jonathan Rees, prosecuting, told the court that Gamor married Nigerian-born Jimi Ogunkoya who was three years her senior when she was 17 after leaving foster care.

The media studies student's mental health deteriorated and by 2006 the couple had separated because of her condition and the children went to live with the father and grandparents.

However she was allowed to see the children, but on one occasion she had shaved off half her daughters head, and on another the children were left outside her flat with their toys and belongings packed in bag.

Mr Rees added: "It was the first manifestation of delusional beliefs that Antoine and Kenniece were not her own and had been swapped at birth for her children that had been still born."

In September she was sectioned after become a recluse inside her flat, having religious delusions and threatening a relative with a knife.

But psychiatrists at Homerton Hospital in East London reported that she was responding to treatment and no longer had delusional thoughts the children were not hers and by October was discharged and admitted as a voluntary patient.

By December social services said she should have supervised access to the children and told the father he could not stop Gamor seeing the kids.

Hackney Council said a review into the handling of the case was ongoing and a report will be published next month