Martha Rendell
Martha Rendell was born on the 10th of August 1871. She was the last woman to be hanged in WA.. She was convicted of killing her husband's son Arthur and his two daughters Annie and Olive by putting hydrochloric acid on their throats. Neighbours told the police Martha would sometimes mis- treat the children. Annie was once abused so much she could not walk. Rendell killed Annie first who at the time was only 7 years old. She put something in their food so they had a sore throat then she would give them the acid and claim it was medicine. Annie died on July 28th 1907. Annie's doctor stated her death was due to Diphtheria. After Annie died she did exacly the same thing to the youngest daughter Olive who was only 5. Olive died on the 6th of October 1907 and again the doctor said it was diphtheria. In 1908 she attempted to kill Arthur who was 14 who took longer to die of the acid, and he died on October 6th 1908. This time the doctor asked to do an autopsy. Martha stood calmly while watching the doctor perform the autopsy but he found nothing that would suggest she killed them. In April 1909 she tried to kill the second son George. It didnt take very long for George to say he had a sore throat, and Martha quickly offered to coat the boys tonsils with ''medicine'' but George suspected something so he ran away from Martha's house. When the police asked people on the street if they knew anything one neighbour said that she saw Martha watching the victim swinging back and forth on her chair. The father was accused of all the killings and Martha was innocent. Suddenly they found evidence to suggest Martha killed the kids so she was sentenced to death shortly after.