Mothers Who Murder their Children - Maternal Filicide
Murderers - image by PetroleumJelliffe Mothers who have the potential to murder their children occur in literature. Shakespeare penned a fine example - Lady Macbeth. At the end of act one of Macbeth , Lady Macbeth, angry at her husband’s inability to commit to her murderous scheme to kill Duncan, declares she would choose to kill an infant to achieve the throne Mac I.vii.55 - 58 How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me; I would, while it was smiling in my face Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this. In real life, cases of maternal filicide are on the increase. According to the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph , on March 7, 2011, US born Theresa Riggi, 47, who stabbed her children to death in Edinburgh, UK, pleaded guilty to the charge of culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility. She made her plea, the Scottish equivalent of manslaughter, at Edinburgh’s Hi...