‘Just Say Goodbye’ (January 2013 online edition)

Chapter 5‘Better off dead’: Women who killchildren in the context of separationThe previous chapter identified a distinct group of filicides, intentionallyperpetrated by fathers, which occur in the context of separation. Thecommon features identified in many of those cases were violence andcontrolling behaviour towards partners, anger in relation to separation andkilling the children to hurt their ex-partner. These factors are consistent withgendered patterns of family violence.In order to develop further insight into gendered patterns in filicide, it isuseful to provide some comparison to women who kill their children in thecontext of separation. The filicide research, outlined in Chapter 3, indicatesthat mothers kill their children in similar proportions to fathers but that theydo so in different circumstances and for different reasons. Looking at filicidesgenerally, the research shows that neonaticides, where a baby is killed on thefirst day of life, are almost always perpetrated by mothers; retaliatory killings topunish an ex-partner are rarely perpetrated by mothers; mothers are more likelythan fathers to perpetrate ‘altruistic’ filicide, in which the parent believes theyare protecting the children from future suffering; and mental illness is seen toplay a greater role in filicides by mothers.This chapter explores the role of separation in filicides by mothers. It considersissues raised in the research literature such as women’s role as primary carers forchildren, family violence victimisation, suicide and mental illness.This chapter draws on the findings of previous PhD research undertaken bythe author (Kirkwood 2000). 104 As part of that research, Kirkwood examinedsix cases in Victoria in which women intentionally killed their children inthe context of separation. As with the previous chapter on men who kill theirchildren, we sought to draw on recent Victorian case examples of mothers whokill their children. However, there was only one case, that of Donna Fitchett,104 The research by Kirkwood (2000) used pseudonyms (which was part of the agreement with the agenciesproviding the data). Other cases discussed in this paper, including the case of Donna Fitchett outlined in thischapter, are drawn from publicly available sources and include actual names.64