Judge Calls Novi Man Who Slaughtered Family ‘An Evil Human Being’

Ordering a Novi man to prison for the rest of his life for stabbing his wife nearly 60 times and slashing his children’s throats five years go, Oakland County Circuit Judge Nanci Grant told Lakshminivasa Nerusu Thursday that  he “is an evil human being.”

Nerusu, an unemployed software engineer who was convicted last month of slaughtering his family then fleeing to India, did not speak at his hearing, but said in a statement  demanding an investigation that he thought psychiatrists, his family and his attorney conspired against him to cover up his insanity, the Detroit Free Press reports.

“I am not responsible for the incident,” Nerusu wrote. “I was insane at the time of the incident.”

Grant , who rejected Nerusu’s claim that he was insane and said instead that he is “wholly, completely and utterly selfish,” said she has presided over hundreds of murder cases in her 18 years on the bench, but has never been more deeply affected than she was during Nerusu’s trial.

“I’ve never had to stop and pause and gather myself until I saw the photos of your murdered children,” she said.

The jury deliberated just two hours before convicting Nerusu of three counts of first-degree murder after a two-week trial.

Nerusu admitted that he killed is wife, 37-year-old Jayalakshimi; his daughter, 14-year-old Tejasvi; and his son, Siva Kumar, 12. He stabbed his wife 59 times on the morning of Oct. 13, 2008, then slit his children’s throats several hours later when they returned home from school.

He hid out in his native India for five years before his extradition to the United States in 2013. The bodies of his family were discovered about two weeks after the killings when school officials in Walled Lake expressed concern that the children hadn’t been in school.

Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Tricia Dare said in closing arguments Wednesday that Nerusu felt trapped in an unhappy marriage and stabbed his wife nearly 60 times, then waited for his children to come home from school and slit their throats to gain his freedom.

Related:

• Jury Deliberates for Just 2 Hours Before Convicting Novi Man of Killing His Family

• Fate of Novi Man Who Stabbed Wife Nearly 60 Times, Slit Children's Throats in Hands of Jury

• Man Accused in Gruesome Triple Murder Testifies He Doesn’t Recall Killing HIs Family

• Man Who Admits to Stabbing His Wife, Slitting Children’s Throats Will Testify