Killing of children at the hand of their parents is an age-old phenomenon which is found in communities across the world
Filicide is common in South Africa, and it occurs under various circumstances which differ from those associated with child homicides, including child maltreatment (abuse and neglect), abandonment of very young children, or infanticide.
As South Africa and the world continues to be baffled by the increasing rate of the deaths of children at the hands of parents and guardians, studies have sought to unpack and lend an understanding as to the cause – and possible solution – to addressing it.
Described as “the killing of one or more children by a parent, step-parent, or other parental figure”, filicide has been branded a crime that science and society have struggled to comprehend.
Said the international Library of Medicine: “Historically, the term filicide did not exclude adult offspring victims. However, present day scholars routinely focus their research on juvenile victims under the age of 18.”
The Human Science Resource Council (HSRC) says: “Filicide is common in South Africa. It occurs under various circumstances which differ from those associated with child homicides, including child maltreatment (abuse and neglect), abandonment of very young children or infanticide.”
In a study on violence against children, the council looked at the provision of services to parents and caregivers in response to severe violence against children and outcomes such as filicide.
“It is less frequently recognised that parents may be a threat to the human security of their children, Discourses in child protection policies and interventions are dominated by efforts to build healthy parent-child attachments, and strengthen parental capacity to care for children, to reduce violence against children in the form of neglect, abuse and exploitation.”
The study found that it was the most serious form of violence against children, occurring under various circumstances which differed from those associated with child homicides, child maltreatment (abuse and neglect), abandonment of very young children, or infanticide.
“The understanding of vulnerabilities of children and response to contextual factors driving parents to kill their children, especially during family adversity, remains a gap. In the absence of interventions specifically designed to prevent filicide, it continues unabated,” the HSRC said.
Saying it was nothing new and had been occurring across the world for a long time, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 31 000 children under the age of 15 died annually. “In the United States of America, reports found that in a two-year period in the late 1970s, parents killed 11 000 children.”
According to the HSRC, filicides were believed to account for roughly two-thirds of fatal child abuse cases, although extensive international analyses remained lacking. “The age of greatest risk for dying by child homicide is in infancy, especially during the first few months of life; of infants killed, almost 10% die within the first week of life.
“For younger infants, genetic mothers are the most common perpetrators. On the whole, however, step-parents are believed to be at higher risk of committing filicide than genetic parents.”
Sociologist Professor Andrew Vilakazi this week said the killing of children by their own parents was an abomination, unimaginable, but one that had been carried out over the years and for various reasons.
Addressing his peers at a mental health seminar, he said: “Going back into the history of communities and families, we find mental health and social reasons, like poverty and revenge. In some instances the parent, often the mother, kills herself too.”
He added: “Families had – and still have – the tendency to hide this embarrassment from others, from the law, to protect the family unit and preserve their name. Sexual assault is the main reason a man kills his own daughter, in a bid to get rid of evidence, but with women, it was step-parents who tended to murder their step-children, out of spite.”
This, while prevalent among black South African communities, was also found among other races, he added.
Attendee Angie Webster told the seminar: “In some instances children were killed for ritual purposes or because they were disabled, for revenge, or human trafficking,” added Angie Webster.
Even when others knew they said nothing: “It remains a well-known secret, one which extended family and the community know and unwillingly accept, and will not tell law enforcement about.”
This murder was prevalent, participants at the seminar agreed, and mothers and fathers were equally capable of perpetrating in it. Young and old parents had been convicted of filicide across the world, while in some communities it was spoken of in hushed tones.
The HSRC added: “Most incidents involve the killing of multiple children. Paternal filicide is often associated with domestic violence and revenge during the dissolution of a relationship. Reasons for maternal filicide include possible psychosis or other mental health condition but are often elusive or not mentioned in media reports.”
Researchers also spoke of impulsive violence or severe cruelty, perpetrated by fathers, while covert filicide – poison and drowning, with an intent to kill – was mainly carried out by mothers.
The seminar spoke of women who killed their children when they had nothing to feed them, or when relationships broke down and were in desperate circumstances. They often threw the children – and themselves – into bodies of water or moving trains, to end their pain.
They also spoke of fathers who took children and killed them when the mother rejected them and moved on.
Criminologist Abner van Wyk said violence within families, left unchecked, was another leading cause of filicide. That, he said, often saw the killer sentenced by a court, with other victims being relieved to speak out after the fact.
Sunday Independent
ntando.makhubu@inl.co.za