Dr Liz Gordon: Migration, mental health and murder
Three issues of major national concern came together this week in the unlikely story of a mother and new migrant, alleged to have killed all three of her children inside their new home. The father allegedly arrived home at around 10pm and found the three children dead.
It is, unfortunately, not uncommon for parents to murder their children. There are a number of triggers for this, but the most common is estranged fathers who take the view “if I can’t have you, no-one will”. Our minds stray to the missing dad and his three kids out West. Are they camping somewhere remote? Did they have a terrible accident? Or did he decide to end it for himself and his children? Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.
We also think about the Lynnmall supermarket attacker, a refugee, torture victim and person with a dangerous psychosis. There is little doubt that New Zealand failed in its duty of care to this man in some way and paid a huge price for this. With the crisis in mental health care, I wonder how many other very damaged refugees and others are on the streets, collecting extremist ideologies along the way and becoming more and more dangerous.
And the Dunedin supermarket bloke, who was apparently in some kind of delusion that ‘the witches’ were after him. One of these perpetrators called a terrorist, the other not. Both, pretty certainly, mentally unwell.
It is relatively uncommon for women to murder their children. Where such incidents take place, there is often a significant background of violence, perhaps drug-taking or alcohol abuse, lack of coping and other problems.
It is very unusual for such an event to occur in a high-functioning professional family, where both parents are doctors, starting a new life voluntarily in Aotearoa. It immediately raises potential questions about the mental health of the mother. As she has been charged with murder, it would not be proper to speculate on that further. Just to say that the term, reactive psychosis, which is now pretty well out of fashion, allows for the possibility that someone can appear normal in the morning and kill their children later in the day.
There have been similar cases in living memory (of those of us who are older). In 1979, a woman called Elizabeth McKenzie, from Canterbury, was arrested for the killing of her three children. The facts were quite similar, on the face of it. Her husband, a dentist, arrived home to find that his wife had killed all three of their children. There was a lot of talk in the community at that time about how terrible for a husband to arrive home to that, and I guess people will say the same now.
Elizabeth had a history of depression and she was remanded to Sunnyside Hospital for an assessment. It later came out that she had recently rung Sunnyside, asking to see her psychiatrist, and was told there was a long waiting list. A failure of mental health services, more than 40 years ago? Very likely.
Elizabeth stood trial for murder. It came out at her trial that she had suffered from depression for her whole life, as had her mother. In her mind, at the time of the killing, she had not wanted them to go through what she had gone through. By killing them, she thought she was protecting them from a future of depression and mental illness.
Her psychiatrist wrote to the court that she met the legal test of ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’, which was one of three potential outcomes, along with guilty or not guilty of murder. The jury had to decide. As a result of the evidence, they did find her not guilty by reason of insanity, and ws. There was a lot of sniping in the media at the time that she had got off ‘scot free’, but in fact she spent many years locked up in Sunnyside. I don’t know when she was finally discharged.
As her mental health improved in hospital, she then had to face the horror that she had killed all her children in a psychotic event. The realisation was, of course, worse than the actual sentence.
Did emigrating to New Zealand trigger some kind of psychotic episode for the mother? Did she have a pre-existing mental illness, and, if so, did Immigration NZ know about it? Or did something else entirely happen?
I expect that she will eventually stand trial. I notice she has been remanded to a secure facility, which I hope is a mental health facility and not a prison. I feel for her. Whatever triggered what she did (if she did it), a year or two on remand in a woman’s prison system overflowing with remand prisoners and very short on mental health treatment facilities, will be another hell she may have to go through. She will find little empathy there, and will be alone in a strange land.
I feel also for the husband. What a thing to come home to, only a week into a new life that must have felt full of promise.
So many of the shocking stories we hear about come back to the common denominator of a lack of access to effective mental health care for those that need it. Our TDB colleague, Dave McPherson and his partner Jane Stevens have campaigned tirelessly for years for better mental health care. Spend more on mental health, spend less on prisons. However, as my alert readers will point out, the government poured millions into mental health services and virtually none of it has been spent.
There must be a better way.
Dr Liz Gordon is a researcher and a barrister, with interests in destroying neo-liberalism in all its forms and moving towards a socially just society. She usually blogs on justice, social welfare and education topics.
Be kind but do nowt.
Back off, Liz. Mrs McKenzie was a neighbour of mine in Strowan. Both our children attended Waimari School, where my husband and I were fairly actively involved, although I didn’t know Mrs MCKenzie herself personally. Full facts aren’t always reported in the newspapers, and sometimes they do not even make it to trial, but I do believe that you’ve got one fact wrong here, and one major omission.
That was a terrible neighbourhood tragedy for so many. At a subsequent dinner party, a stranger- woman accused me of being responsible for it, saying that had I supported that mother, then she mightn’t have killed her children. The Timaru family happenings have brought it all back again, but I know enough to know that none of us know very much at all, that we best respect everyone involved by not speculating about them, that this is not a particularly welcoming country to strangers from off -shore, and that my tears this morning are nothing compared to the horrific shadows cast forevermore by these little girls’ deaths. We know nothing.
Hi SW. I am a bit confused. My account of the McKenzie case came from the court trial, not the media, including the psychiatric evidence. It was wholly supportive of Elizabeth and her plight. My point was about mental illness in the community. It must have been terrible for you to be accused of not offering such support, but that is rubbish. It was well-established that Elizabeth (and her mother) suffered from a debilitating form of generational depression. You can stand tall – no acquaintance could have prevented that tragedy.
I understand the comments about the availability of mental health services and the determination (or not) to improve them.
As Snow White says, we know nothing. And we do not know that NZ having the best mental health services in the world and Timaru as a city having the best services in the country would have prevented the Timaru tragedy.
Certainly, demand significant improvements are made so that there is easy access to appropriate help to not have such a terrible thing happen again.
Certainly learn what we can from the investigation of circumstances around the incident. But let’s take a lot of deep breaths first.
Very sorry to hear you were blamed for that Snow White. An outrageous claim.
Snow White: “That was a terrible neighbourhood tragedy for so many.”
It was indeed. I heard about it from a relative who has lived in ChCh, and in that area, for many years. Said relative was very involved with Plunket, and if I remember rightly, Mrs McKenzie’s state of mind was characterised as post-natal psychosis. It’s a long time ago, but I’m pretty sure it’s the same case: I remember that the husband was a dentist. However: some of the detail I heard then was different from the above account.
Some years later, I asked my relative about that case. I was told he’d moved to Australia, while she was still in Sunnyside, with, at that stage, little prospect of release. I have no idea what’s happened since.
D’ Esterre, Yes, Mrs McKenzies’ husband was a dentist, and I believe she had double degrees, and I really don’t want to say more – it came about quite quickly, and as in Timaru, an incomprehensible family tragedy became public fodder. Cheers.
Snow White: “…an incomprehensible family tragedy…”
Both of them unimaginably awful. The rest of us can only feel compassion for all concerned.
How effective are most psychiatric services? A bit like our “correction” services?
Absolutely.
The website ‘ssri stories’ is full of incidents of harm after withdrawal or change of psychotropic medications
SSRI Stories is a collection of over 7,000 stories most of which were published newspapers or scientific journals. In these stories, prescription antidepressant medications are mentioned. Common to all of them is the possibility – sometimes the near certainty – that the drugs caused or were a contributing factor to some negative outcome: suicide, violence, serious physical problems, bad withdrawal reactions, personality change leading to loss of reputation and relationships, etc.
https://ssristories.org/
Also, doctors are the number one career for suicide, and within doctoring psychiatrists lead as a sub group. After doctors is dentists, and vets are very high up too.
Careers for undiagnosed high functioning autism are doctors, accountants, IT geeks, researchers and I cant remember the rest.
All this tells me the system is so broken, and few have any grasp of what is at play when these tragic events occur.
I come from a professional migrant family [2 masters with honours parents] that also crumbled under the wing of mother NZ. And yes I had parents of high functioning neuro-difference, and yes the system only made and continues to make things worse for me as everyone ‘on my case’ is filling out their time sheets only to ‘cover their asses’ in a broken system, and doing nothing helpful for vulnerable people in need.
Its a fucking mess. I googled ‘capitalism is a death cult’ recently…. so resigned to the sad reality of the situation.
Thanks for that response. What % of the economy relies on negative events? Otherwise profits not made, jobs cease to exist..
My comments are of a general nature and are tangential to this Timaru tragedy.
Yep bang on again See-er, no money to be made on fixing people. Revolving door medicine is what its been called for decades.
Leaky homes, cars that breakdown aka VW auto transmissions, human resources firms encouraging continual job change due to a percentage finders fee each time resulting in employer reskill costs and unhappy workers. Its endless dude, not just big farmer.
Almost all animal product industries. As well as being unsustainable to waterways and climate, a plant based diet produces less ill health. Tell that to NZ farmers and Font error as well as medical.
I suppose that does make capitalism a death cult of sorts.
Also with health care, it is vitally important that checks are made every step of the way with immigration and training. NZ desperately need doctors, but one of the UK biggest murders was a doctor, aka Shipman. (I’m not suggesting that is the case here, due to the evidence so far, aka children/post pregnancy). We had our first even doctor trained in NZ, (with many signs things were not right) murder a teenager.
On the flip side, having doctors held in limbo in NZ who seem to be doing well and having no issues not get NZ PR, while criminals are given residency before them in a pandemic, suggests something is very wrong. As is bring more doctors in, while not processing doctors who are already working successfully in NZ quickly.
Clearly NZ has a big problem with checks and the bovine paper shuffling is not working, against any practicality of favourable societal result.
Another enquiry, perhaps.
After the meth committee scandal where government allowed committees with vested interests set the meth standards instead of scientists, it might be time to give Gluckman a call on the immigration problems and have someone smart have a look at it… He managed to work out what a croc the phony meth standards were, but a bit late for renters.
Thanks for this Liz, I remember the case in 1979, terribly sad, and just as then I felt deeply sorry for the mother (as I did for the father) who one day would realise what she had done. And it will be the same for this woman I am sure. I was dismayed that all of the comments on TV were about the father, of course he has to face this to, and no comments with any sort of compassion or sadness towards the mother.
I was horrified that a woman took her 10? year old daughter to the gates where flowers were being laid and the daughter was then interviewed, this is nuts nuts nuts. No kid of that age needs to know this. My grandchildren of similar ages do not see TV news.
I remember finding out as a 10 year old roughly, in the fifties, that a kid in Sydney whose parents had won the big raffle had been kidnapped for money. I was terrified ‘might I be kidnapped’ the thoughts that go through a kids head.
The horror and the despair is agonising to contemplate and the great sorrow is for the innocent kids, both in the South Island and probably in the north. Agree with you on the mental illness of the attackers, they were definitely failed by mental health lack of services it would clearly seem. Psychosis of the parents by circumstances that made their lives unbearable is another matter probably too difficult to anticipate… reactive psychosis sounds about as good an explanation as any and certainly there is no sound reasoning that leads to the harm and death of otherwise presumably loved children.
UPDATE: The woman has been sent to Hillmorton (once was Sunnyside) for an assessment. This is good. The initial assessment will be whether she is fit to stand trial. It is almost certain she will be deemed fit (it is a very low bar). I believe that an application can be made to keep her in secure psychiatric care during remand, so that may happen.
Utterly heart breaking scenario in Timaru. My heart goes out to the husband and wider whanau and the children’s mother. Given what we know about this family, most likely she has had a brief reactive psychosis or else psychotic depression.
As we know stress precipitates both in people who have biological vulnerability.
The Dunedin man who stabbed shoppers may have been mentally ill. Up to psychiatrists to determine.
The Auckland terrorist, as he is referred to, not all people who commit such acts are mentally ill. He refused psychology input in prison, but it is possible there is a forensic evaluation of him which has been done.
Stresses in life – Shifting house, country is a high stress situation:
* The secure background of the mother was based on being in South Africa near family and with access to reliable daily child care or au pairs. Without it her life was not secure. Lauren has been described as a very soft, introverted person.
“I cannot comprehend what happened – she is a medical doctor and she wasn’t arrogant or anything like that. She was very humble,” said former colleague and neighbour, Natasja le Roux.
She said the couple struggled to conceive their children.
“They waited years for those children because she had troubles with fertility and stuff, so it really is a big shock,” she said.
She said Lauren had a lot of support when she was in SA.
She was very humble…”Those children, that family, are like my own. I was in their house…I went on holiday with them. [The parents] never argued. They were two darlings. What could have gone wrong?” she said…
The only sign Dickason may have been distressed came in a cryptic Facebook post in March, which referred to the mental illness suffered by Hollywood stars like Demi Lovato, Robin Williams and Carrie Fisher.
She underlined a section in red which read: “Unfortunately we live in a world where if you break a bone everyone comes to sign the cast but if you tell people you’re depressed they run the other way.”
https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2021-09-17-they-waited-years-for-those-children-neighbour-and-colleague-speak-after-woman-charged-with-nz-murders/
There are studies on life events and how they cause stress particularly when multiplied:
Here are some: Feelings of stress are normally triggered by things happening in your life which involve: being under lots of pressure. facing big changes. worrying about something. https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/stress/causes-of-stress/
Another informative site: https://drewadelman.com/life-transitions
I note the Colin Bouwer case of professional South Africans coming here with problems.
The prosecution said Bouwer murdered her [his wife] because of his affair with another Dunedin psychiatrist, Anne Walsh, and for a substantial insurance payout. After his father was convicted, Bouwer jnr said his father found it easier to run away than face his responsibilities….
Then the son strangled his wife in South Africa. Then his mother ….
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/the-colin-bouwer-case-a-fatal-betrayal/DHYB35ER7IIHNUORPIC5PI5QQQ/
Putting aside the mental health issue of the mother, I am appalled and disgusted by the news media, especially Stuff, publishing photos of the children and the mother. I think it is a gross violation of the privacy of the deceased children. I know there is probably no such privacy issue legally but surely there is no public interest in publishing the photos. In fact I think the names and details of the case should be suppressed until the case is heard before a judge but that is too late now. It is heart wrenching enough to read the details of the case, without seeing photos of the victims. Or as a Grandad with grandkids of a similar age am I being too sensitive??
Your not being too sensitive. It was distasteful to say the least. I too felt yuck seeing that pic, though not sure why. Probably because each little face was so innocent and joyful, including the mother’s. Just truly sad. And sad to see their little smiling faces knowing the tragedy they are all suffering/suffered being used as click bait. The media should never have shown that particular pic. Small concession they didn’t show a pic of the dad. The wider family need their privacy, as does the mother. The little girls should be given every dignity and be protected now at least.
I totally agree with you, it is ghoulish and nasty to do all these things, leave the alone.
You are being too sensitive. It is public interest if someone is murdered on NZ shores that their situation is in the media. If the children had lived, it would be different. Sadly that is not the case.
Retep. I agree with you 100%, and I don’t think that you are being too sensitive. You are showing respect for the living and respect for the dead, which is as it should be.
These are and were people living their lives, real people, not comic book characters. The showing of family pictures and stories does nothing to help address what has occurred, and it may add to the grief of the survivors; it is not in the public interest, but whets the appetite of ghouls and helps sell newspapers in the grubby social community which the equally-grubby msm boot-licks for its dollars.
Retep. You’re right, it’s an obscene invasion of this tragic family’s privacy, but modern faux journalists focus on their own feelings, oblivious to human decency. They want the reader to know their feelings and I for one, aren’t interested, especially when they care nothing for the feelings of their fodder.
No photos of the child deceased McKenzie children or their home, graced the Christchurch papers in 1979. Back then, journalists trained on the job in cadet or apprentice type scenarios, they were more mature, and much more professional than today’s polytech products. Frequently they knew more than they chose to write about. The Christchurch “ Press” in particular was a high calibre independent morning newspaper, and Dunedin’s ODT, may be the only contemporary equivalent ; the Stuff cowboys trying to drag us down to gutter level are best avoided – I don’t know anyone who buys the print papers now.
No Retep, You’re not being too sensitive. You are showing respect. You are being a decent person, unlike
the Stuff females who have invaded a family’s privacy in a particularly crass and vile manner.
Yip and now the murderer gets three hots and cot for the rest of her life and looked after on the government dime
The extended family are special ‘consideration’ for MIQ places to travel from South Africa…. that is NZ government priority. https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/south-canterbury/timaru-killings-extended-family-south-africa-trying-get-nz
You seem like a person that cares and has a good heart !!
Trev, I frequently think that you sound like a caring person with a good heart too, even though you are known to have voted for the Nats…
Thank you ..
Kyle Webster. I would hope so. The days when the unwashed gathered to ogle hangings at Newgate, and crones knitted as guillotines chopped off heads, and savages cannibalised their foes, are gone, and the
barbarians of the media, social or otherwise, do us no favours using human tragedies for bread and circuses.
Turn away, look in the other direction. Taking an interest in our fellow citizens and the stresses that show up in everybody’s lives, whether over-achievers or under-achievers, that is not done! Carefully look the other way and don’t acknowledge the pig’s muddle that we are making of the 21st century, having not learned how to fix our ideas on just having a decent life and being on good terms with one another, in the 20th century.
Hear hear Paul Judge quite agree.