The lifeless bodies of three children aged 11, 10 and 5 were found on Sunday at a home in Alfortville, on the outskirts of Paris, hours after their father, convicted of domestic violence in 2021, went to a Normandy police station to confess to the crime.
The officers went to the family home where they had to force the door to enter and where they discovered a dramatic scene, with the three children stabbed to death, according to the newspaper Le Parisien in its online edition.
The 41-year-old confessed perpetrator had been convicted of spousal and child violence in 2021 and is under arrest.
Authorities have opened an investigation to determine the circumstances of the drama that has shocked the city.
The mother of the deceased lives in the neighbouring town of Marolles-en-Brie, less than 20 kilometres from the scene.