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'Killer' mother may be barred from meeting her children

She spends long hours with her therapist each week. In between, she prays continuously.

But Narinder Virk still dreads the day her trial will begin.

The 40-year-old former homemaker is accused of trying to drown 10-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter in the ocean near her home on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

The children were saved by an alert neighbour on that cold January night last year.

Virk, who spent eight months in a jail before dozens of people in the community came forward to raise $500,000 for her bail, has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Her defenders have portrayed her as a victim of domestic violence for many years. They believe she was driven into despair on January 12 after hearing that her husband, Santosh Virk, had got married in India--and wanted to divorce her and take the children away.

The trial may not start immediately, but this week Virk's lawyer, Christina Briles, got another reason to be upset with the prosecution, which had earlier prevailed on the judge not to lower the $500,000 bail set for Virk.

The prosecutors have now filed a request with the court that Virk should be barred from seeing her children.

Briles, a public defender who has passionately defended Virk for her alleged attempt to kill herself and her children on January 12, 2000, says she just cannot understand the thinking behind the prosecutor's request.

Virk's estranged husband took the children to India a few months ago, Briles said.

The prosecution's request was accompanied by a letter from a therapist asserting that the children, who were made to testify against her mother in the court last year, had constant nightmares. They were afraid she would hurt them again, the therapist said.

Briles is emphatic that Virk has no intention of contacting the children.

But deputy district attorney Adam Pearlman told the court that in early January, Virk appeared at a gurdwara in San Fernando Valley knowing that her children and husband would be there at the time.

Rejecting Briles' contention that the incident was a "coincidence, " he said the children were so traumatized that their father did not take them to the same gurdwara again, and decided to take them to India.

But Briles, who called the prosecutor's argument "ridiculous," argued in court papers that Santosh Virk hasn't made any effort to have the children attend therapy sessions. Instead of taking the children to India, she said, he could have got them good therapy in their adopted hometown.

However, Pearlman said his concern was raised because he expected the children to return in a few months.

But Briles doesn't buy Pearlman's arguments. Though Virk drives a delivery truck for the Los Angeles Times and owns a liquor shop in the Valley, Briles feels he does not want to bring the children back to America. And that is why he has enrolled them in a school in Punjab, she says.

The Ventura County court is expected to rule on the prosecution's appeal soon.

Earlier Stories:

Fund-Raiser Held For Mother Accused Of Trying To Kill Her Two Children
Mother pleads not guilty in drowning case
Narinder Virk: Cold blooded murder plotter or 'ultimate victim' of American justice system'?

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