escalating violence in our community Become a member of the Sensible Sentencing Trust

Mouseover links for full page descriptions

Offender Database Heather Ross

Heather Sylvia Ross

Alias

.

Offences

The killing of two nine month old babies in 1991 and 1993 in the Manawatu

Victims

Samantha and Emma Wales

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none

Age

Born 1945

Current Location

Lower Hutt

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to nine years in July 1995
Released in early 2001

Background
From WYSIWYG News July 1995
Heather Ross, 50, was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter after two infant girls who she was baby sitting for a neighbour died. The deaths, two years apart, were attributed at first to Cot Death. It was later alleged that Ross suffocated the two girls who were both 9 months old at the time of their death. Ross was sentenced to 9 years in jail.

From the Wairarapa Times-Age
Mother's Day on Sunday will have a special poignancy for the Wales family of Masterton. It's to be a family day for Sherie and Evans Wales and their children Jayden and Alexia, but there'll also be time set aside to remember two lost little girls. It's nearly six years since their first child, Samantha, died at 8 months in June 1991. Two years later, in April 1993, the couple's second daughter, Emma, died aged 9 months. Both girls were thought to have died from cot-death while in the care of their babysitter, Heather Ross, while the Wales family was living in Manawatu.

But in 1994, after two trials, Ross, charged with murdering with babies, was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to nine years in prison. Mrs Wales said that that time is well behind them now, and these days she's immersed in being a fulltime mother to Jayden, who's nearly 3 and 4-month-old Alexia.

July 3: Sheri and Evan Wales are told that Heather Ross, the woman who killed their two baby girls, is to be set free from her nine-year jail sentence.

---

Corrections and Additional Information
We endeavour to make this database as accurate as possible, but we are at the mercy of whatever information we can find in various online and offline archives. We rely on the public - that is, people like you - to fill in the gaps that we cannot. If you wish to submit additional information or a correction to this file CLICK HERE . Privacy: Trust policy is that all sources are treated as strictly confidential unless we are explicitly told otherwise. If you wish to see a file removed from this database certain conditions must be met by the offender set out HERE Note that this does NOT apply for those that are the primary offender in a murder, rape, or any sexual offending involving minors. We do not enter into correspondence regarding the guilt/innocence of offenders. Such correspondence is not responded to, especially if the offender concerned has a number of prior convictions

Back to Top