Two-thirds of cases involving the killing of children by parents in Hong Kong over a 15-year period were committed by mothers, with about a third of all perpetrators diagnosed with mental illnesses, a study has found.
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While the child homicide rate in the city is lower than the global average, the study conducted by four public hospital psychiatrists has sparked calls for greater social support for young single mothers and measures to identify signs of mental risk among fathers.
“In this study, most child homicides were perpetrated by parents; mothers committed filicide more frequently than fathers,” said the researchers from Castle Peak Hospital and Queen Mary Hospital.
“Of the 81 filicide victims, 54 were killed by their mothers, 16 by their fathers and 11 by both parents.
“Mental illness was diagnosed in 31 per cent of the perpetrators, predominantly depression and psychotic disorders.”
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The study, published in the Hong Kong Medical Journal last month, also revealed that 58.3 per cent of perpetrators who were fathers suffered from mental illness, compared with 38 per cent of mothers who were offenders, but added that the difference was “not statistically significant”.