The family of a mother and a two-year-old girl who were murdered and buried under a kitchen floor in Dundee says “truly evil” killer Andrew Innes should be given the death penalty.
Bennylyn Burke, 25, and her two-year-old daughter Jellica were murdered by Andrew Innes at his home in Dundee in 2021.
He had lured Bennylyn, originally from the Philippines, from Bristol to Dundee after targeting her through a dating website in February of that year.
The twisted killer hit Bennylyn over the head with a hammer before striking her with a sword and burying her at his home in Troon Avenue.
Two days later, the predator strangled Jellica and buried her next to her mum.
Innes was found guilty of their murders following a five-day trial at the High Court in Edinburgh and ordered to serve a minimum of 36 years.
Bennylyn’s relatives have told how they are still struggling to come to terms with what happened in a new documentary.
‘I couldn’t accept it’ says father of Bennylyn Burke
Speaking on the Crime+Investigation channel series DEAD2ME, Bennylyn’s father Benedicto Aquino said: “It was the police in Scotland that told me my daughter and granddaughter had been murdered in Dundee.
“It is the most distressing and painful thing to lose a granddaughter and daughter.
“I couldn’t accept it – what did they do wrong? Why were they killed? It was just so harrowing and painful for all of us.
“The truth is all my family are devastated, beside ourselves with grief.
“We loved our child Bennylyn, we can’t say for sure how we are feeling right now, except that we are filled with pain.”
‘Andrew Innes deserves the death penalty’
Asked about his feelings for Innes, he added: “I do think he is truly vile because he killed my daughter who’s very kind and my granddaughter who was completely innocent.
“I don’t understand how someone could possibly do that to two innocent people, especially a small innocent child.
“If you were to ask me, a life sentence is not enough because he took the lives of two people.
“He should be given the death penalty.”
Reliving the moment she found out about the murders, Bennylyn’s sister Shela Aquino said: “I was so confused, I had so much pain in my heart when I learnt what had happened to them.
“I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t think, I couldn’t do anything.
Bennylyn Burke’s sister says ‘he deserves to pay for his sins’
“When the body was found we were still in doubt, so the police had to show us proof of DNA and whatever else.
“Only when they sent the documents to me, it was then that I really did believe.
“The first thing I wanted to ask him was how could he have done that to such a kind and innocent baby.
“A normal person couldn’t have possibly done that to anyone.
“How could you kill people so easily?
“He is evil. And he deserves to pay for his sins.
“I miss singing with Bennylyn. I miss doing karaoke with her. I miss going to the park with her. Just going for a walk. Or even to the mall.
“I miss all that so much.”
Andrew Innes lost his final bid to appeal his conviction and sentence in July.
The Troon Avenue murder investigation will go down as the most complex investigation in the history of Police Scotland’s Tayside division.
The episode featuring Innes’s case airs on Crime+Investigation at 9pm on Monday, November 27.
