BY Dr. Ruwan M. Jayatunge  Matricide is the killing of a mother by her biological child. It is one of the rarest of reported murders and, as noted in R. Catanesi, G. Rocca, C. Candelli, and F. Carabellese’s “Matricide by mentally disordered sons: Gaining a criminological understanding beyond mental illness – A descriptive study”, has always been considered one of the most abhorrent crimes.  The matricidal theme has its roots in Greek mythology. According to Greek mythology, Prince Orestes avenged the murder of his father, King Agamemnon of Mycenae, by killing his own mother, Clytemnestra. The Roman Emperor Nero, who ruled Rome between Anno Domini (AD) 55 and AD 68, ordered the murder of his mother, Julia Augusta Agrippina. Over the years, a number of matricides have been reported in Sri Lanka, but this has not been discussed in great detail by mental health professionals. Recently in Kotakethana, an 18-year-old son killed his 39-year-old mother after a quarrel over Rs. 1,500. This event shocked the nation and was marked among the more horrible crimes committed. Specific psychodynamic and environmental factors can be identified in this murder. Although the self-affirmation motive was associated, the son’s criminal act leaves behind some unanswered questions. He committed his crime while having a violent argument with his mother. The evidence suggests that the action was not involuntary or performed while unconscious. However, the perpetrator’s mental health condition, his emotional attachment to the mother, socio-economic status, family stress, and parenting style and structure have to be investigated before coming to any specific conclusion. In addition, Kotakethana, an area where a series of crimes against women occurred in the past few years may have had some impact on the killer, as well. Youth-to-parent physical aggression is gradually increasing in Sri Lanka. Several matricides and patricides have been reported during 2012 to 2015. Some of the murders were committed following psychotic factors and some without any serious mental disorder. According to S. Richard-Devantoy, A.S. Chocard, M.C. Bourdel, B. Gohier, J.P. Duflot, J.P. Lhuillier, and J.B. Garré’s “Homicide and major mental disorder: What are the social, clinical, and forensic differences between murderers with a major mental disorder and murderers without any mental disorder?”, the main difference between murderers with a major mental disorder and murderers without any mental disorder is the psychopathology of the morbid process which underlies the homicide. In the Kotakethana matricide, the perpetrator’s mental health assessment is yet to be conducted, and therefore, his mental state at the time of the crime is still unknown. Some view matricide as a crime against nature. D.G. Dutton and S. Yamini’s “Adolescent parricide: An integration of the social cognitive theory and clinical views of projective-introjective (unconscious defense mechanism in which one incorporates characteristics of another person or object into one’s own psyche) cycling”, stated that case histories of parricide by adolescents frequently reveal a history of abuse on the part of the victim and acute depression and suicidal ideation by the adolescent. There are a number of theories such as the psychoanalytic theory, the family systems theory, and cognitive behaviourism which explain matricide. According to psychodynamic interpretations, the murderous impulse to kill a parent might have Oedipal origins, as mentioned in R.L. Sadoff’s “Clinical observation on parricide”, as a defense against hostility or incestuous desires. As mentioned in S.G. West and M. Feldsher’s “Parricide: Characteristics of sons and daughters who kill their parents”, Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud argued that matricide served as a displacement defecse against incestuous impulses. According to the family systems theory, the primary cause of matricide is attributed to an abusive and pathological family structure. These families often have a conflict-oriented style of problem solving. Based on this theory, offenders experience chronic hatred for the parent-cum-victim. West and Feldsher mentioned that American psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham described sons who kill their mothers in terms of the Orestes complex, which refers to ambivalent feelings toward the mother that ultimately manifest in homicidal rage. According to F. Wertham’s “Dark legend: A study in murder”, matricide represents the son’s unconscious hatred for his mother superimposed on sexual desire for her. Wertham’s Orestes complex described a sexually immature but homosexually orientated son, trapped in a dependent but hostile relationship with a possessive mother. J.A. Silva, G.B. Leong, R. Weinstock, and C.L. Boyer’s “Capgras syndrome (delusion of doubles is a delusional misidentification syndrome characterised by a false belief that an identical duplicate has replaced someone significant to the patient) and dangerousness” and D. Bourget, P. Gagné, and M.E. Labelle’s “Parricide: A comparative study of matricide versus patricide”, hypothesised that an unresolved incestuous conflict or a parent cum victim who mistreats the child excessively may push the child to the point of explosive violence. B. O’Connell’s “Matricide”, stated that a son who kills his mother is usually an unmarried, un-ambitious young man with an intense relationship with his mother, a feeling of social inferiority, and an absent or passive father. According to J. Campion, J.M. Cravens, A. Rotholc, H.C. Weinstein, F. Covan, and M. Alpert’s “A study of 15 matricidal men”, men who commit matricide feel weak, hopeless, and dependent, and are unable to accept a separate, mature male role. The empirical analysis of homicides in which children have killed parents has been limited. Per W.R. Holcomb’s “Matricide: Primal aggression in search of self affirmation”, matricide occurs in less than 1% of all homicides. According to J.D. Marleau’s “Methods of killing employed by psychotic parricides”, matricide accounts for 20-30% of homicides committed by psychotic individuals. Per K.M. Heide and A. Frei’s “Matricide: A critique of the literature”, the killing of mothers by their biological children, comprises less than 2% in the US. Between 1990 and 2005, 27 mothers were killed by their children in the Province of Quebec, Canada, per Bourget et al.  According to K.M. Heide’s “Parents who get killed and the children who killed them”, the vast majority of people who commit matricide are males. As noted in S.A. Clark’s “Matricide: The schizophrenic crime?”, perpetrators often reside with the victim and frequently use painful methods and excessive violence in committing the murder. Some even mutilate their victims’ bodies. As explained by Holcomb, the most prominent characteristics across matricide types are severe mental illness; a domineering mother; a hostile, dependent relationship with the mother; a passive or withdrawn father; and overkill behaviour. According to D. Bourget, A. Labelle, P. Gagné, and P. Tessier’s “First episode psychosis and homicide: A diagnostic challenge”, the risk of parricide may increase with the presence of unidentified mental illness.

1. Gilles, in “Murder in the West of Scotland”, viewed matricide as a schizophrenic crime. A.H. Arnfred’s “A case of matricide, the perpetrator of which was subsequently proved to be a schizophrenic” reported a case of matricide, the perpetrator of which was subsequently proved to be suffering from schizophrenia. A. Ogunwale and O. Abayomi’s “Matricide and schizophrenia in the 21st Century: A review and illustrative cases” explicates that matricide has been linked to schizophrenia for several decades, with an assortment of explanations to explain the connection. There are complex psychodynamic, phenomenological, and contextual factors in the act of matricide by persons with schizophrenia.

Campion et al. studied 15 men who committed matricide. The majority were diagnosed as having chronic schizophrenia and had been living alone with their mothers. Other diagnoses included substance-induced psychosis and impulse disorders. They concluded that the matricidal impulse evolves through successive stages of psychological development and that therefore, the motives for matricide are varied and correlate with the level of psychological development or regression.

1. Singhal and A. Dutta’s “Who commits matricide?”, studied 16 men who committed matricide. A total of 15 out of the 16 cases had a diagnosis of schizophrenia and the remaining patient had a diagnosis of schizophrenia with a personality disorder. All were single at the time of the matricide. Data indicate an intense conflict-laden and ambivalent relationship between the majority of the patients with their mothers.

K.H. Dogan, S. Demirci, I. Deniz, and Z. Erkol’s “Decapitation and dismemberment of the corpse: A matricide case” presented a case of a 57-year-old woman who was decapitated and her right arm and both hands dismembered. It was determined that the victim was murdered and dismembered by her 33-year-old daughter, who had been receiving treatment for schizophrenia for 15 years. S.E. Mouridsen and K. Tolstrup’s “Children who kill: A case study of matricide” presented a nine-year-old boy who intentionally killed his mother. According to the researchers, no severe family conflicts or other psychogenic factors which could explain the action were found. Apart from some indications of possible epilepsy in the electroencephalogram (not confirmed clinically), no somatic pathology was verified. During a one-year stay in the child psychiatric department after the homicide, the boy was found to be psychotic, probably suffering from a schizophrenic disorder which is presumed to have developed in the years preceding the matricide. Although an association does appear to exist between matricide and schizophrenia, it is not a triggering factor to commit matricide. Individuals suffering from schizophrenia are not aggressive all the time. Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh, Dr. D. Chiswick indicated in “Matricide” that thousands of schizophrenic sons live in peace with their mothers, neither assaulting nor killing them. Matricide has been reported in cases of Capgras’ delusion, a misidentification syndrome characterised by the false belief that imposters have replaced people familiar to the individual. According to G. Casu, N. Cascella, and C. Maggini’s “Homicide in Capgras’ syndrome”, the Capgras’ syndrome could lie at the base of aggressive and homicidal acts directed towards family members during psychotic breakdowns. Holcomb hypothesised that matricide is a primal aggression in search of self-affirmation. A “pathologic” mother-son bond could be observed in most matricide cases. Catanesi et al. indicated that the peculiar dynamics of the mother-son relationship and the unique personalities and life experiences of both subjects are the real key to cases of matricide. L.B. Schlesinger’s “Adolescent sexual matricide following repetitive mother-son incest” reported a case of a 16-year-old male who committed sexual matricide following years of mother-son incest. After murdering his mother by strangulation, which itself was sexually arousing, the youngster engaged in both vaginal and anal necrophilia. Recent data suggest that personality disorders, especially antisocial and borderline, are strongly related to the manifestation of violent acts. Per K.N. Fountoulakis, S. Leucht, and G.S. Kaprinis’s “Personality disorders and violence”, biological factors seem to constitute a risk factor for violent behaviour independent of personality.  It has been argued in M.D. Livaditis, G.S. Esagian, C.P. Kakoulidis, M.A. Samakouri, and N.A. Tzavaras’s “Matricide by person with bipolar disorder and dependent over-compliant personality” that, when an intense disturbance exists in the personality of the mother of the child or in their relationship, the struggle of the child for independence can take the form of a violent event, even a murder. According to Campion et al. many people who commit matricide consider their crime as an act of catharsis, liberation, and metamorphosis against a humiliating relationship that threatens their sexual and social identity. Some individuals have committed matricides while they were in a catathymic crisis: the sudden release of emotionally charged psychic conflict and tension, resulting in extreme violence within an interpersonal bond. In most cases, the homicide had taken place while the perpetrator was in a dissociative state and experiencing a catathymic crisis. According to H. Arthur and M.S. Garrison’s “The catathymic crisis: An explanation of the serial killer”, the theory of catathymic crisis was presented in 1937 by Dr. Wertham as an explanation for some types of violent and seemingly motivation-less crimes. F. Wertham’s “The catathymic crisis: A clinical entity” introduced the inner psychic catathymic crisis which is characterised by an unbearable emotional excitement (fear, rage, and desperation), a sense of being hemmed in an inevitable process and acting like an automaton to explain homicides such as matricides. The catathymic crisis is an unexpected explosive outburst of impulsive often destructive behaviour understandable only in terms of unconscious motivation. There have been reactive matricides, not psychotic, and they had occurred as a response to severe family dysfunction. A hostile, dependent relationship with the victim has been identified in these cases. Many cases of matricide are neither predictable nor preventable, Chiswick noted, unless there is a history of violent behaviour by a particular individual. An ongoing pattern of family violence that exists in the home could be one of the risk factors. K.M. Heide’s “Why kids kill parents: Child abuse and adolescent homicide” identified three primary types of parricide offenders: the severely abused child, the dangerously antisocial child, and the severely mentally ill child. As described by Heide, dangerously antisocial children kill the parent to further their own goals. In these cases, the parent is an obstacle in their path to getting what they want. These individuals, for example, may kill to have more freedom, to continue dating a person to whom the parents object, or to inherit the money that they believe is eventually coming to them. The Kotakethana perpetrator would fit into the dangerously antisocial children category. The aetiopathogeny (cause and subsequent development of an abnormal condition or of a disease) of the Kotakethana matricide act is still unknown. Nonetheless, it indicates psychosocial and socio-economical factors associated with the crime. Low income, the lack of education, lack of social support, unemployment, and the degradation of family values had been viewed as aggravating factors. These social maladies demonstrate that there is an immediate need to include spiritual education, psychiatric care, and counselling services in rural areas. (The writer is a registered psychotherapist)