A Case Study of Paternal Filicide-Suicide: Personality Disorder, Motives, and Victim Choice

ABSTRACT

Although evidence with respect to its prevalence is mixed, it is clear that fathers perpetrate a serious proportion of filicide. There also seems to be a consensus that paternal filicide has attracted less research attention than its maternal counterpart and is therefore less well understood. National registries are a very rich source of data, but they generally provide limited information about the perpetrator as psychiatric, psychological and behavioral data are often lacking. This paper presents a fully documented case of a paternal filicide. Noteworthy is that two motives were present: spousal revenge as well as altruism. The choice of the victim was in line with emerging evidence indicating that children with disabilities in general and with autism in particular are frequent victims of filicide-suicide. Finally, a schizoid personality disorder was diagnosed. Although research is quite scarce on that matter, some research outcomes have showed an association between schizoid personality disorder and homicide and violence.

KEYWORDS:

• Disabled victim
• merci killing
• paternal filicide-suicide
• schizoid personality disorder
• spousal revenge

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank W. Vanhout and I. Storme from the Federal Government Department and Dr. E. Van Hoofstat, and the Penitentiaries of Brughes and Hasselt.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

F. Declercq

F. Declercq holds a PhD in clinical psychology. He is a Professor at Ghent University.

R. Meganck

R. Meganck holds a PhD in clinical psychology. She is a Professor at Ghent University.

K. Audenaert

K. Audenaert holds an M.D. He is a Psychiatrist and Professor at Ghent University.