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Family Raped And Killed : Man Faces Execution
8:41am Wednesday October 06, 2010
Kate Sullivan and Rob Cole
A man could face the death penalty in the US after being found guilty of murdering a mother and her two daughters.
Crack addict Steven Hayes was convicted on 16 counts of kidnap, rape and murder in a case that has gripped America. The 47-year-old followed Jennifer Hawke-Petit home from the supermarket in an affluent Connecticut town.
Michaela, Hayley and Jennifer were all murdered
He then broke into the family's home in the middle of the night in July 2007, holding the woman and her family indoors until the morning. Mrs Hawke-Petit was forced to go to her bank and withdraw thousands of dollars, hoping to pay off Hayes and an alleged accomplice who has yet to stand trial.
The woman begged bank staff for help but on returning home was raped and murdered. The men, both paroled burglars, then tied daughters Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17, to their beds, put pillow cases over their heads and set fire to the house.
Jennifer Hawke-Petit pleads for help from bank staff
Mrs Hawke-Petit's husband, Dr William Petit, was the sole survivor after escaping to a neighbour's house despite being tied up and beaten with a baseball bat. He said the verdict gave him "some relief" but said "my family is still gone". "It doesn't bring them back.
It doesn't bring back the home that we had but certainly a guilty verdict is a much better sense of relief," Dr Petit said outside the court. The jury heard eight days of gruesome testimony about the attacks, including how Mrs Hawke-Petit was raped "to square things up" after Haye's partner allegedly sexually assaulted the youngest daughter.
The same jury will begin deliberating on October 18 to decide if Hayes should be executed or face life in prison. During the trial Hayes blamed his co-defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, for being the aggressor. Komisarjevsky faces trial next year and could also be sentenced to death if found guilty.
