‘Just Say Goodbye’ (January 2013 online edition)

‘Just Say Goodbye’that fits the criteria of having occurred in the context of separation and forwhich there was sufficient information about the circumstances and reasons forthe filicide. 105 The information used here about that case is drawn from mediareports and Supreme Court sentencing judgments.Filicides by mothers in Victoria 1985–1995Kirkwood (2000) studied female-perpetrated homicide in Victoria between1985 and 1995. 106 Of the 77 cases examined, 16 involved women who killedtheir children. 107 In six of the filicide cases, the children were killed as part ofa suicide plan (Kirkwood 2000). These cases will be discussed in this chapterbecause they were intentional killings which occurred in the context of theparents’ separation; in each of the cases, the relationship with the intimate partnerwas either breaking down to the point at which separation was believed to beinevitable, or had ended. These women all killed their children as part of a suicideplan (five women died and one survived). The motivations or reason for thefilicides are difficult to ascertain in most of the cases because the women died.In one case the woman survived and gave statements to police and in two othercases the women left suicide notes that provide some insight into the filicide.These three cases are outlined below.The women’s apparent primary motive in the filicide-suicide cases examinedby Kirkwood was to kill themselves. They appear to have killed the childrenalso, because they perceived that they could not leave their children withouta mother. They believed no one else would be able to adequately care for thechildren. Some of the women expressed a belief that they and their childrenwould be ‘better off dead’.Kirkwood (2000) found that while several of the women showed some angertowards their partner for contributing to their circumstances, this did not appearto be the primary motive for their actions. There is little indication that theiractions were directed at harming or punishing their partners. (The concept ofrevenge as a motive for women to kill children is discussed later in this chapter).105 It is not clear why this is the case. It may be because many mothers who kill their children in the context ofseparation also commit suicide, and these cases are rarely reported in the media. It may also be that there aresimilar cases that involve suicides by father that were not reported in the media. Until recently journalists wereadvised not to report on suicides because of concerns about contagion (the notion that other people will copythe suicide). In August 2011, the Australian Press Council (APC) revised its standards in relation to suicide andjournalists are now encouraged to report on suicides in a responsible manner. The APC standards on reportingsuicide can be viewed at www.presscouncil.org.au/document-search/standard-suicide-reporting/106 The primary data source was coronial files, which contain a variety of information such as autopsy reports,witness statements and police records of interview with perpetrators.107 In two of these cases the male partner was also investigated as a perpetrator. However, those cases involved fatalchild abuse and are not included in the six cases considered here.65