By Erda Khursyiah Basir
Over the past decade, there have been several shocking cases of children who were brutally assaulted and murdered. This second of three articles examines the psyche of the heartless people who vent out their rage on hapless children.
KUALA LUMPUR: Not under the influence of drugs and no history of mental illness. Healthy and can think rationally.
Believe it or not, the above description applies to many of those who allegedly commit violence against children. Why, in some cases, the accused is not only well-educated but has a good job and religious background as well and is even related to the victim’s family.
What motivates such seemingly normal people to act beyond the boundaries of reason and sanity?
Sharing her views, psychologist Prof Datin Dr Mariani Md Nor said when one harbours feelings of anger and vengefulness against a person for too long, it can someday lead to disastrous consequences.
“Such a person may not even have any mental issue as he can still figure out how to deceive the victim. Perhaps, the perpetrator is holding a grudge (against the victim or the family) over something that could have happened a long time back.
“Then the time will come when he releases his pent-up anger and commits a horrific crime, which will not only have an impact on the person he is angry with but also the person’s family members and others close them,” Dr Mariani, who is attached to Universiti Malaya’s Educational Psychology and Counselling Department, told Bernama.
According to statistics by the Social Welfare Department, there were 4,982 cases of child abuse in 2016. The following year, the number rose to 5,442.
Meanwhile, between January and April 2018, 1,929 cases were recorded. Child neglect topped the list of child abuse cases reported, followed by physical abuse and sexual abuse.
Mounting Pressure
An otherwise normal person can be driven to committing a heinous act if he succumbs to the mounting pressure brought about by frustrations and too many unresolved problems, and if he lacks moral support and has needs and desires that are in conflict with the norms of society.
“For this person, it (committing the heartless crime) is the only way out although it is the wrong thing to do. In addition, if the perpetrator knows the victim and her family well and also knows her weaknesses, the easier for him to commit the crime,” said Dr Mariani.
Pointing out that children were easy to influence, she said families should always be cautious and refrain from placing their full trust in people who were not a part of their household.
Then again, there have been cases of children being abused and killed by their own family members, the most recent one being Muhammad Hafiz Abdullah, 5, who died of suspected abuse at a government clinic in Pekan, Pahang.
The boy was believed to have been abused by his own mother and stepfather, who have been arrested by the police to facilitate investigations.
According to the post-mortem results, the victim died of multiple injuries to his head and spleen.
Dr Mariani said although not all stepfathers or stepmothers were evil, there were some who were overly possessive of their spouse to the extent of not wanting to share their husband or wife with others.
“Whenever they look at their stepchild, it will remind them of the man or woman who was once married to their spouse. With all the problems they already have, the presence of a stepchild adds more stress and they vent out their anger and rage on the child.
“Things can get worse when the child’s biological parent also enters the fray and beats up the child without thinking rationally,” she said.
In such cases, she added, the perpetrator’s actions were heavily influenced by their emotions.
“Their negative emotions and lack of empathy drive them to torture and even kill. How can a little child possibly fight back?”
Murdering one’s own child
Former Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta, Perak, director and consultant forensic psychiatrist Datuk Dr Rabaiah Mohd Salleh, meanwhile, said there were several reasons why some parents go to the extent of abusing and causing the death of their own offspring.
Quoting US psychiatrist Dr Phillip J Resnick, Dr Rabaiah said among the possible reasons were altruism, mental illness, poverty, drug abuse and not having a permanent job or proper education.
“Where altruistic killing is concerned, the mother would have thought that killing her child is the best way to solve their problems. In such cases, the mother would also have the intention to kill herself and hence, her desire to take her child along with her,” she explained.
Mental illnesses such as psychosis can cause a person to become depressed and think irrationally, she said, adding that women who have children out of wedlock can go to the extent of committing infanticide (the crime of a mother killing her child within a year of birth).
“They may even kill their newborn within 24 hours after delivery just to avoid the stigma and negative consequences of being an unwed mother,” she said.
Poverty and fragile family ties and lack of moral support can also lead to parents inflicting emotional and physical abuse on their children.
“It may start with emotional abuse and then lead to physical abuse. Finally, it leads to the unintended death of their child.”
Dr Rabaiah also said that people who were abused as a child or experienced long-standing domestic violence have the potential to abuse their own children.
“Then, there are also cases where the parent kills his/her child out of spite for his/her ex-spouse who had remarried. In such cases, the killer sees the child as not his/her own but that of an unfaithful spouse,” she said, adding that drug and alcohol abuse can also lead to irrational acts. – Bernama
