‘Just Say Goodbye’ (January 2013 online edition)

‘Just Say Goodbye’to do so by his ex-wife ( Johnson 2005). Similarly, in the cases outlined here,with the exception of one case (Phithak Kongsom), the perpetrator killed thechildren during contact (Ramazan Acar, Dean Williamson, Arthur Freeman,Robert Farquharson) or while they had the children residing with them (RajeshOsborne and Jayson Dalton). 101Two recent British studies shed further light on this issue. The Women’sAid Federation of England examined the deaths of 29 children from 13families in England and Wales between 1994 and 2004. These children werekilled by their fathers during post-separation contact arrangements. In five ofthese cases the contact was ordered by the court (Saunders 2004). Domesticviolence against the mother was involved in 11 out of the 13 families. In oneof the two remaining cases the ex-partner had been obsessively controlling(a characteristic feature of intimate partner violence) and in the other case therewere concerns about the child’s safety. 102The Dispatches child homicide study, outlined in Chapter 3, found that 43of the 163 children killed by parents in England between 2004 and 2009 werekilled soon after their parents separated or the decision was made to separate. Intwo-thirds of these cases there was a prior history of domestic violence. Twentyof the children were killed on access visits following separation (Ferguson 2009).These studies, and the cases outlined in this chapter, support Johnson’s findingsand indicate that despite the existence of violence against the children’s motherin many cases, fathers who killed their children were having contact with them.Some fathers expressed dissatisfaction with the level of contact they had.However, few of the fathers in the cases outlined in this chapter were pursuinglegal avenues to increase contact. They express anger with their ex-partners overseparation and the breakdown of the family, despite the fact that in many casestheir violence and controlling behaviour contributed to the separation.An act of loveJohnson (2005) disputes the perception that the men killed their children asan act of love. While some of the men in her study reportedly demonstratedlove for their children and were involved in their care, she found that in mostcases they had shown little interest in child-rearing or the day-to-day care ofthe children before separation ( Johnson 2005). In the cases described in thischapter, the fathers’ main expressed emotion is anger and resentment towardstheir partners for leaving them rather than concerns about the welfare of theirchildren.101 In Jayson Dalton’s case, the children had been temporarily residing with him and were killed when the courtgranted residence to their mother.102 Mental illness (including depression and suicide threats or attempts) was mentioned in regard to nine of the13 fathers who killed their children (Saunders 2004).61