Experts give insight into potential future of alleged cannibal mother
Criminal behavior and legal experts have shed light on the possible fate of a woman who allegedly killed her four-year-old son and said she cannibalized parts of him.
The 32-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with murder after police at Wyong on the NSW Central Coast made the grisly discovery of the toddler’s body last Saturday.
The woman went to the local police station, allegedly telling the police that she had eaten part of the child.
A magistrate judge on Saturday issued a temporary order allowing coroners to take mouth swabs, blood samples and nail clippings from the woman.
Senior criminal lawyer Sam Macedone said the case was almost unprecedented in Australia but the mother’s mental health was likely to be a key part of her defence.
Mr. Macedone told NewsWire: “I think this will attract a lot of public attention as it goes on, rather than the mushroom lady (triple murderer Erin Patterson). It feels like I’m reading a book, this kind of thing only happens in movies.”
“I’ve been in this field for 55 years and I’ve never encountered a situation where someone did this. [allegedly claimed] cannibalism, even involved in cannibalism.
“We always encounter people who are disconnected from reality and have such terrible thoughts, but there has never been anything like this.
“I’ve had clients in the past who have been accused of doing clearly criminal things, and when you look at it, it’s often a spur-of-the-moment event caused by some mental illness.”
The last high-profile Australian case involving a verifiable example of cannibalism occurred in May 1988, when paranoid schizophrenic David William Philip killed Korean Kyung Eup Lee before cooking and eating part of her thigh.
The incident occurred after the pair had an argument over the right to occupy a disused factory in Melbourne’s south, and the jury took just 20 minutes to return a verdict of “not guilty by reason of insanity” during the Supreme Court trial in December 1989.
Mr. Macedone said it was not unusual for a defense lawyer to argue that a defendant who said he cannibalized a child might be frail or mentally ill.
“It’s really up to the court to decide whether the illness is such that it affects your ability to judge what you’re doing,” he said.
“At the end of the day, it’s a question for the judge and jury. The jury, after hearing all the evidence, may conclude that he didn’t know exactly what he was doing. They may very well let him go.”
“Or they might say he’s mentally unstable and really needs to go to an institution for a while.
“There are some things that cannot be excused.”
The Wyong community came together on Monday to mourn the death of a young boy allegedly murdered by his mother
Central Queensland University criminologist Xanthe Mallett said the incident was “quite unusual”, with statistics from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research revealing that an average of 14 children are believed to be killed by their mothers each year.
“About 27 children a year die at the hands of a parent or carer, and about half of those are mothers, which probably surprises people because we tend to see it as more of a father thing,” Ms Mallett said.
“Generally speaking, I’ve seen cases where a mother kills her child because they had a history of violence or some other significant trauma in their childhood.”
“I’m certainly not making excuses, but most children die at the hands of their parents in moments of madness; this is rarely planned.”
Ms Mallett said that even in cases where someone was suffering a “severe schizophrenic episode which may include auditory and visual hallucinations”, none of the perpetrators chose to eat their victims.
“Obviously there is disordered thinking, but I have never seen cannibalism be a part of it – even in the most disordered crimes. I have never seen cannibalism of a child.”
Ms Mallett said it was important to “never make excuses” for criminals who committed shocking acts of violence, but “it is always valuable to try to understand” why this happened.
“We can learn lessons to prevent this from happening again.”
An independent review will be held into the child’s death after it was revealed that the Department of Communities and Justice had various interactions with the woman and her child in the years leading up to the child’s death.
NSW Families and Communities Minister Kate Washington said on Monday the department last responded to a report about the pair 18 months ago.
“The purpose of the review is to understand exactly what happened, what decisions were made, when and whether they were adequate,” Ms Washington said.
“Almost all families who come into contact with the child protection system are complex and have interactions with a variety of systems.
“There are a number of elements to this that we’re trying to get more information on.”
The woman was charged with murder (DV). He will return to court at a later date.
