Triple hanging in filicide-suicide: An unusual case report

Introduction

Homicide-suicide and dyadic death refer to an incident where a homicide is committed, followed by the suicide of the perpetrator almost immediately or soon after the homicide.^1,2 Familicide-suicide can be defined as the killing of one's current or former spouse or one intimate partner and one or more children followed immediately or very soon by suicide by the homicidal offender. ³ When homicide of children occurs in this event, then it may be called filicide-suicide. It is usually considered as a subcategory of homicide-suicide (dyadic death).^4–7 Maternal filicide is defined as a child's murder by the mother. Filicidal mothers have been found to have frequent depression, psychosis, prior mental health treatment and suicidal thoughts. ⁸ Use of firearms is a common method of homicide in developed countries. Uses of knives, blunt objects, strangulation and poisoning are other methods frequently employed by the perpetrator. ⁹ In India, drowning is another method of homicide, particularly of young children.^10,11 Hanging as a method of homicide in filicide-suicide is infrequently reported in literature. We report a first ever case of double homicidal hanging of children by the mother followed by suicidal hanging by her, the perpetrator.

Case report

A 28-year-old married woman had strained relationship with her husband and in-laws since marriage. She had been married for 5 years and her husband was working as a government employee. There was allegation of harassment of the victim for dowry. On the fateful day she went to a local police station and lodged a written complaint of harassment against her husband. She had also told the station-in-charge that if things are not settled, she would commit suicide. After lodging the complaint she called her parents and told them that she was frustrated with her life and would commit suicide. She could not be contacted thereafter by her parents on her mobile. Parents immediately informed the local police station. The police reached her house after about an hour. The bed room was locked from inside. After opening the door forcibly, the police found the lady's body hanging from a ceiling fan with a chunni. (A chunni or dupatta is a long scarf that is essential to many Indian and South Asian women's wear) (Figure 1). The body was in partial hanging position with feet touching the bed. Another ligature material (chunni) was found lying on the bed. After opening the adjacent room the police found the body of a girl child aged 3 1/2 years hanging from a ceiling fan with a chunni (Figure 2). The body of a 2 years male child was found lying in a supine position on the bed in the same room (Figure 3). OPEN IN VIEWER

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Figure 2.

Daughter's body hanging from ceiling fan.

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Figure 3.

Son's body found lying on the bed.

According to the police, the house address given by the deceased in her complaint was wrong, so they took about an hour to trace her house. On further enquiry with neighbours, it was revealed that the same morning she had borrowed one chair from a neighbour and a desk from a nearby tailor's shop to accomplish the act.

Autopsy reports

Discussion

Maternal filicide has occurred throughout history and throughout the world. Maternal filicide is defined as murder of child by the mother. ¹² Maternal filicide's perpetrators have five major motives i.e. altruistic, acutely psychotic, fatal maltreatment, unwanted child or spouse revenge. Spouse revenge filicide is the rarest, when a mother kills her child specifically to emotionally harm child's father. ¹¹

A significant proportion (16–29%) of filicides end in completed suicide by the mother. ¹³ Many other mothers make non-fatal suicide attempts in association with their filicides. These mothers often had evidence of depression or psychosis ¹⁴ or had psychosocial stressors of marital discord and lack of support. ¹⁵

In a study by Hatters Friedman et al., ¹⁶ parental motives for filicide-suicide included altruistic and acutely psychotic motives. Twice as many fathers as mothers committed filicide-suicide during the study period, and older children were more often victims than infants. Records indicated that the parents frequently showed evidence of depression or psychosis and had had prior mental health care. In another study ¹⁷ most victims were less than 6 years of age, and there were several cases in which multiple siblings were murdered. A psychiatric motive was determined for more than 85% of the mothers.

The case presented here is a first ever recorded case of such nature in India, where hanging by ligature was used for both homicide and suicide by the perpetrator. According to the investigating officer the mother was being harassed by in-laws and the husband for dowry. Both children were very close to her in-laws and her husband. Being continuously harassed by the in-laws and by her husband, out of depression and frustration, she planned to kill her children. The motive probably was to emotionally harm her in-laws and her husband who were very close to the children, which as per the literature is the most rare form of maternal filicide. ¹¹ The deceased registered a complaint in the police station with the aim of ensuring punishment to her husband and father-in-law after her demise. She must have been under the impression that her last complaint would be treated at par with a suicide note. On the fateful day, she borrowed a chair and a desk and used these as a platform to execute the hanging. The multiple abrasions over the upper and lower limbs of both children suggested struggle by children at the time of hanging.