Key question remains in mum, kid deaths

Leaving home after telling her partner she would buy their daughters McDonald’s, a Melbourne nurse did the unthinkable in a horror act of family violence.

This week a Victorian coroner found Jasmine Sara Thomas, 36, killed herself and her daughters; Evelyn and Carolyn, in a car fire on March 24 two years ago.

Handing down his findings, Judge John Cain said he was unable to determine what led up to the deaths other than Jasmine suffering a psychotic episode.

The inquest heard Thomas and her husband James Palakamannil had married in 2012 after meeting through a website for arranged marriages.

Both originally from Kuwait, they were granted permanent residency in Australia in 2015 and settled in Melbourne a year later.

Their first child, Evelyn, was born the same year and Thomas began working as a nurse across various hospitals in 2017.

Carolyn, their youngest, was born in November 2018.

Judge Cain found there was little evidence of family violence between Thomas and Mr Palakamannil, with one incident reported to police in September 2021.

Mr Palakamannil contacted police claiming Thomas had become aggressive and was causing damage to property.

He said he was not in fear and wanted to manage it within the family, but that Thomas had been increasingly abusive since January.

An investigation later found that while it appeared she was the alleged perpetrator, there was some evidence this was not an “accurate depiction” of the relationship.

It noted in a September 2021 conversation with child protection services, Thomas had alleged coercive control and financial abuse, saying her husband was “making her look crazy”.

Just two months before the fatal fire, Thomas told her mother in India she wanted a divorce.

The inquest was told Thomas left home with Evelyn and Carolyn about 6.45pm on March 24.

CCTV footage from a service station just 15 minutes later captured her filling a 10-litre fuel container with petrol before stopping at a nearby McDonalds.

Thomas could be seen ordering at the store’s drive through and passing food over the back seat to her daughters before leaving.

At 7.45pm emergency services discovered her car “fully involved in fire” on the Western Port Hwy in Cranbourne West.

Autopsies later determined the trio died from the effects of the fire, with the highest levels of petrol found on the driver’s seat.

Handing down his findings, Judge Cain said the young mother had experienced “significant stress” in her marriage and had been diagnosed with mild depression.

He noted Thomas had experienced isolation due to the lack of family support in Australia but had shown hesitation in engaging with services.

“From the available evidence, it is difficult to accurately determine what was occurring for this family in the lead up to the fatal incident,” he said.

“We note that there may have been issues of misidentification in the context of family violence. There is insufficient engagement with services however to conclusively make a determination on this point.

“In the circumstances I can only conclude that Jasmine had an episode of psychosis and whilst in this psychotic state she killed both her children and herself.”