Ex-wife heard father kill daughters on telephone

An accountant who shot dead his two young daughters while his former wife listened on the telephone was found guilty of murder yesterday in Dallas, Texas.

John Battaglia, 46, faces life in prison or the death penalty after killing Faith, nine, and Liberty, six, in his flat in May last year.

The girls' mother, Mary Jean Pearle, testified that she heard Faith say over the phone: "No, Daddy, please, no, don't do it." She then heard five gunshots and her former husband yelling profanities. Ms Pearle called police, who found the girls' bodies in the apartment, with a stockpile of firearms.

Battaglia was arrested near his home hours later after getting a tattoo on his arm of two flowers, representing his daughters.

At the time of the shootings, authorities were about to ask a judge to revoke Battaglia's two-year probation for allegedly violating its terms by contacting his former wife. Battaglia was previously convicted of assaulting two former wives.

Ms Pearle testified that while she was on the phone with her former husband, Battaglia had the nine-year-old ask her: "Mommy, why do you want Daddy to have to go to jail?"

In closing arguments, prosecutors called the crime an act of vengeance against Battaglia's former wife.

"The one way that John Battaglia could punish Mary Jean for the rest of her life was to take the two things that were most important to her and execute them all the while she was listening," the prosecuting counsel, Keith Robinson, told the court. (AP)