Mentally ill woman killed son in exorcism

Source: AAP | Published: Wednesday May 24, 4:34 PM

http://www.theage.com.au/breaking/0005/24/A15607-2000May24.shtml

A delusional woman who believed her five children were possessed by the devil killed one son during an exorcism and then tried to resurrect him, a judge said today.

After attacking his four siblings, the woman drowned her three-year-old son by pouring litres of water into his mouth and standing on him to reek him of evil.

She later tried to resurrect him by placing his body in a scalding bath and pouring boiling water over him.

The 36-year-old woman, whose surviving children would be identified if she was named, pleaded not guilty, by reason of mental illness, to his manslaughter and to assaulting his siblings in Sydney on June 17 last year.

After considering psychiatric reports and other evidence, Justice Greg James found her not guilty of the five charges on the basis of her psychotic mental illness which made her, in law, not responsible for her actions.

'I cannot pass on this case without remarking on the terribletragedy which has overtaken you, your children, your family and your church,' he said.

Her husband and other family members were at the New South Wales Supreme Court hearing to support the woman.

The judge was told she began to exhibit odd behaviour on June 14, but it went unnoticed by her husband who left for overseas the next day to attend his father's funeral.

She made comments to relatives about Bible passages and her daughter came upon her making 'scary' noises.

They attended their church on June 16, where the woman fell to the floor, salivating and vomiting, uttering sounds no-one could understand, scratching the floor and yelling 'no-one is stronger than me'.

The next morning she told her children to get down on the floor and pray, saying they were covered by the blood of Jesus.

Justice James said in a 'violent episode of religiosity', she poured water and made other attacks on the children in an attempt to rid them 'of what she believed, in her delusional state, was their possession by the devil'.

The family then watched religious programs on TV before the woman locked her three-year-old son and his younger sister in the garage where they were heard to be crying.

Later in the house, the boy yelled abuse at his mother leading her to say 'he is the only one that has got the devil in him' before she carried out the fatal attack.

The court was told the woman, who had a psychiatric history, was now on anti-psychotic medication which had relieved her hallucinatory symptoms and she had developed an insight into her condition.

Justice James ordered that she be kept in a psychiatric hospital until 'released by due process of law'.

This means her condition will be regularly reviewed and if it is agreed she was no longer a danger to herself or the public, she could be released on certain conditions.

-- Maya (Maya@eck.ist), May 24, 2000

Answers

Maya,

Go figure. How awful.

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), May 24, 2000.

now THAT is a bad mother.

-- (notnow@no.way), May 24, 2000.

AH YES,ANOTHER crazy-christian=story. nice try beezlbub.

-- al-d. (dogs@zianet.com), May 24, 2000.

AH YES,ANOTHER crazy-christian=story. nice try beezlbub.--not refering to you maya, but the un-holy spirit- behind the scenes. i don,t deny that some folk,s have gone off the deep end,behind FALSE CHRISTIANITY.SOME FOLK,S see demon,s behind every bush.----wrong focus.sure demon,s exist--but JESUS is greater.

-- al-d. (dogs@zianet.com), May 24, 2000.

Untreated psychosis takes another life.

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), May 24, 2000.

Untreated Christianity takes another life.

-- (al-d@is.that.your.mom?), May 24, 2000.

"...the woman who had a psychiatric history, was now on medication..." and yet "she began to exhibit odd behavior (two days before)...but it went unnoticed by her husband" Kinda makes you wonder about the husband's mental capacity as well as the members of her church....and why wasn't she on medication before? Another sad case of child abuse. Sorry the woman still did it and was responsible for the child's death. Maybe Pieter can answer what the Australian culture does for their folks (what kind of support/assistance) with mental health issues. As an American, cynical of seeing what lawyers have done with insanity defense in this country, I am skeptical.

-- Aunt Bee (SheriffAndy@Mayberry.com), May 24, 2000.

How sad that this nut-case was allowed to have 4 children.

-- Jeanne (jcd51@webtv.net), May 25, 2000.