When mothers turn killers

Motherhood has a universal appeal. Therefore, one mother's story in one part of the world will resonate with others in a distant part. All mothers do feel the same way about their children at first, but somewhere, somehow, things can take a bad turn. A mother's blind love can be replaced with the most unimaginable and horrifying act of killing of her offspring. This kind of act is beyond the range of comprehension of a normal human being.
From ancient Greek period to 'African slave ships' en route to America, women have killed their own offsprings. To ordinary people, there is absolutely nothing that would justify such actions. What can possibly initiate maternal homicides? Such an act in itself is nothing short of primal horror. It is one of the most unnatural brutality that a mother can commit against her own child, but not uncommon. Such murders are not isolated incidents.
Reading about the shocking and chilling news reports of the alleged double murder of two children in Dhaka's Rampura, this past Monday, has left me dumbfounded. According to a RAB report, Mahfuza Malek Jasmine has confessed to killing her two minor children Oroni, 14 and her brother Alvi, 6. During interrogation Mahfuza has described very calmly how she strangled her children with a dupatta while they slept. This admission was retold by a RAB spokesperson during a media briefing. Mahfuza said she 'killed them out of anxiety over their future.'
Her motive so far remains somewhat unclear because of different contradictory reports. At first, it was hinted that because of extra-marital affair, Mahfuza might have gone off the deep end and during extreme emotional disturbance, she killed her children to avenge her husband. Now RAB is saying it has not found any evidence of infidelity. The latest report said, she has killed her children because of her mental state which was triggered by depression.
Mahfuza's brother Zakir Hossain Sarker has contested the RAB claim. Her husband Amanullah has filed a case against her. The couple remains in custody. We will hear more about this case as the story unfolds in the coming weeks.
Since this story, reading through some studies of the recent killings in the USA has helped me to understand the psychology behind such murders. WHY DO MOTHERS TURN ON THEIR OWN CHILDREN? To fathom a complex logic behind this ultimate crime was not an easy task. It may be relevant to look at other examples and case studies. I hope this article will shed some light in understanding this gruesome act: Why do mothers turn on their own children?
Psychologists have written books in trying to figure out what goes through a mother's mind when she is planning to kill her own child. What really drives her to commit such unspeakable and mind-shattering acts on innocent children who are supposed to be loved and protected by them? 'This is a very rare type of crime,' said Jeffrey Smallden, a reputable forensic psychologist in the USA.
A lot of the studies concluded that when a mother kills, they are burdened by suicidal thoughts and emotion runs high. They think about terrifying ideas that can ultimately drive them crazy enough to kill. Often plagued by suicidal thoughts, they think of all kinds of invasive ways of killing their children. 'They operate under the belief that the child is trying to harm them in some way - others murder because of very strong religious beliefs.' Some do it out of hopelessness, frustration and profound pain.
These baby killers are hard to identify because often they show no visible symptoms of violent behaviour. Outwardly, they look normal. From a Princeton University educated celebrity model/actress like Brooke Shields to mothers who were in and out of psychiatric care and aordinary looking Bengali housewife Mahfuza can be potential killers of their children.
On May 28, 2015, New York socialite and multimillionaire Gigi Jordan got 18 years for killing her 8-year-old autistic son Jude Mirra. She was charged under first-degree manslaughter. She took Jude to a luxury hotel in Midtown Manhattan and made him take poisonous cocktail of drugs, vodka and juice. Fearing her son was a victim of emotional, physical and sexual abuse in the hands of her ex-husband, she decided to save him from the claws of a predator out of 'a mother's love.'
In many cases, the murder of one's own child is associated with postpartum depression or baby blues. A new mother may become overwhelmed with a baby's birth, which may trigger depression. She is unable to cope with this sudden huge responsibility of motherhood and delves into a dark and unknown territory.
What prompts postpartum depression? Social psychologists believe that it may be a result of childhood trauma, violence and undiagnosed mental illness. Broken and dysfunctional families are also linked with this. There are three types of postpartum depression. Baby blues occur in most new mothers to some degree. Another kind is when a mother is consumed by violent thoughts to harm her baby as Brooke Shields did. Postpartum psychosis is the most serious one. When that happens, a mother's mental state deteriorates and she loses grip of reality.
A perfect example of postpartum psychosis would be how a few years ago, Andrea Yates, a Texas mother in the US, drowned her five children in the bathtub in her home. They ranged from ages six-months to seven-years. During her murder trial it came out that after each birth, Andrea was hospitalised because of depression. The medication she took didn't help her to get cured. One morning she just snapped - in a house alone, with five children, she did the unthinkable!
Afterwards she called her husband at work and told him, 'You need to come home. It's time. I did it.' Andrea's husband knew about her debilitating mental state and he immediately guessed what she had done. He asked, 'which one?' She answered 'All of them.'
This murder trial stunned people in the US and elsewhere. This was so shocking that it forced the justice system to have a second look at the way mental illness is viewed in the United States. Psychosis, depression, and religious belief were blamed for Andrea Yates murdering her children. She got life in prison.
Andrea Yates' family knew about her mental condition. Yet, severely depressed Andrea was left to care for her five children all by herself. In the evening news, when we heard how she had committed the ultimate crime, we all shuddered in disbelief. How can one make sense of such a crime?
Another mother Susan Smith, in South Carolina, drowned her two young sons by strapping them in a car and sinking the car in a river. She stayed on top of the bridge and watched the car sink. Was she mentally ill when she murdered her children? During the trial it was revealed that her motive was pure selfishness. She killed her boys in order to start a new life with a rich man. Her sentencing was also to serve life in prison.
Ten years ago, Amy Grossberg, a college student in the state of Delaware, killed her newborn baby in a hotel room along with help from her boyfriend. The baby was found wrapped in a plastic sheet in a trash bin in the hotel parking lot. Since Amy came from an affluent family, her parent's high-priced lawyers made a deal with the government's attorneys and got her only twenty-two months in jail, two years of probation and three-hundred hours of community service for killing her own newborn baby.
Some mothers are convinced that by killing their own children they can both enter an afterlife that is less chaotic than this world. What others deem as impossible, the mentally unstable mothers perceive such an act as appropriate.
A mother can also kill out of anger. About 30 per cent of such killings are premeditated murder, named 'Medea killings' after an ancient Greek myth, where a mother seeks revenge on the cheating or abusive spouse. She usually considers her children as her property. As a result, an innocent child becomes a pawn in her life's drama.
From postpartum depression to full-blown psychosis - a woman often loses her ability to function on a day-to-day basis. Birth of a baby or caring for multiple children can be overwhelming to a mother. Getting some help from others can relieve a lot of stress. Pent-up anger and talking about unhealthy thoughts that are brewing inside can be replaced with having a support group. Some of the mental diseases are easily diagnosable and with proper medication, the suffering women are able to function and cope with life's responsibilities without harming their children.
Morbid thoughts about hurting a child can also be avoided if the mother realises it as such and seeks help. A mother just doesn't wake up one morning and decides that she is going to kill her child. More often it has been evident that they cried out for help but to no avail.
Andrea Yates had repeatedly said, 'I am a bad mother. I cannot be trusted with my children.' No one listened. All one had to do is call the child protective services; they would have stepped in and would have removed those children from her. She would have been committed to a psychiatric hospital and have gotten treatment. Her children would have gone to foster parents and lived.
No matter what kind of punishment was handed out to these mothers who had killed their children, whether she got a slap on the wrist, was put away for life, or got the death penalty, these women were responsible for killing their own flesh and blood. The justice system decides whether such killings are premeditated or the acts of deranged individuals.
There is absolutely no difference between 17-year-old housemaid Beauty in Dhaka and 27-year-old hairdresser Tenisha in New York City, who threw their newborn babies from a sixth-floor window recently. Both babies succumbed to their injuries.
Some of the above killings could have been avoided if others intervened. Society can play a vital role and prevent such monstrous acts and ghastly killings. In countries where there are no child protective services, other family members can take over. The loved ones can save the life of a child, in danger from the killer - its own mother.
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