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A man accused of repeatedly raping a 10-year-old girl, before later killing her and her grandparents in a house fire has jumped to his death in the courthouse where he was on trial.

The moment Robert Seman Jr, 48, made the fatal decision was captured on security cameras as he walked between two police officers in the Mahoning County Courthouse.

Suddenly he can be seen veering right and clambering over the balcony railing, before he plunges from the fourth floor to his death.

Had Seman gone to trial he could have been convicted of aggravated murder of 10-year-old Corrine Gump, 63-year-old William Schmidt and 61-year-old Judith Schmidt for which he could have been sentenced to death.

Prosecutors later said of the suicide that it was telling that he took this decision, rather than face trial.

When he was arrested following the arson Seman was found by investigators to have burns on his body. The bodies of the three victims were found on the second floor of the burnt house of the 10-year-old’s grandparent’s house.