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R. v. Coolen

R. v. Coolen AUST. & N.Z. JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (Sept., 1970): 3, 3 CASE REPORT (2) Heard in the Supreme Court (Adam, J.) in Melbourne, May 25 and 26, 1970. Unreported. c., aged 31 years, was initially charged with the murder of her six months' old daughter, death being due to strangulation. C was separated from her husband by whom she had three children and had been Irving with a de facto husband for some five years. From this association she had three children, the youngest being the six months' old baby; the deceased. Some ten years prior to the alleged offence C had been an in-patient in a mental hospital for three, almost continuous, years; the diagnosis being "sociopathic personality". However, perusal of notes made at the time suggested a possible diagnosis of hypomania. In 1967 she had been involved in two motor car accidents and, as a result, suffered head injuries and short periods of un­ consciousness. In one accident she also suffered fractures of a lumbar verte­ bral transverse process and subsequently complained of considerable chronic pain. Her last pregnancy was only eventful in that she was diagnosed as suffering from gonorrhoea at the fifth. month. This caused her distress that persisted after the birth of the child, particularly as she related all the child's minor physical problems to the earlier infection. The baby was christened with the name of a child the mother of the de facto husband had "lost" when it was six months old. The evidence was that C had been a very good mother to all her children; that the baby was killed for no apparent reason and that C had no recollection of having strangled the child. Shortly before the death of the baby C had taken, on her own admission, 10mgm of Valium and a glass of beer. However it was apparent that at some stage she had taken a further 60mgm. of Valium - a matter of which she declared she had no recollection. Very shortly after killing the baby - perhaps 20 minutes ­ C was quite alert. During her remand it! custody C had clearly hypomanic periods and periods of depression. She~ was also found, on investigation, to have an abnormal electro-encephalograph reading. The Crown, although initially charging C with murder, finally accepted a plea to Intanticide (Crimes Act, 1958, s.6) and the court, after hearing psychiatric evidence, made an order for her admission to a mental institu­ tion in lieu of passing any sentence. The order was made pursuant to section 51, Mental Health Act, 1959. This case demonstrates the very ill-defined area between the clear cut case of infanticide and the case where the proper course would be the raising of a defence of insanity to a charge of murder. - A.A.B. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology SAGE

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Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
Copyright © by SAGE Publications
ISSN
0004-8658
eISSN
1837-9273
DOI
10.1177/000486587000300307
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

AUST. & N.Z. JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (Sept., 1970): 3, 3 CASE REPORT (2) Heard in the Supreme Court (Adam, J.) in Melbourne, May 25 and 26, 1970. Unreported. c., aged 31 years, was initially charged with the murder of her six months' old daughter, death being due to strangulation. C was separated from her husband by whom she had three children and had been Irving with a de facto husband for some five years. From this association she had three children, the youngest being the six months' old baby; the deceased. Some ten years prior to the alleged offence C had been an in-patient in a mental hospital for three, almost continuous, years; the diagnosis being "sociopathic personality". However, perusal of notes made at the time suggested a possible diagnosis of hypomania. In 1967 she had been involved in two motor car accidents and, as a result, suffered head injuries and short periods of un­ consciousness. In one accident she also suffered fractures of a lumbar verte­ bral transverse process and subsequently complained of considerable chronic pain. Her last pregnancy was only eventful in that she was diagnosed as suffering from gonorrhoea at the fifth. month. This caused her distress that persisted after the birth of the child, particularly as she related all the child's minor physical problems to the earlier infection. The baby was christened with the name of a child the mother of the de facto husband had "lost" when it was six months old. The evidence was that C had been a very good mother to all her children; that the baby was killed for no apparent reason and that C had no recollection of having strangled the child. Shortly before the death of the baby C had taken, on her own admission, 10mgm of Valium and a glass of beer. However it was apparent that at some stage she had taken a further 60mgm. of Valium - a matter of which she declared she had no recollection. Very shortly after killing the baby - perhaps 20 minutes ­ C was quite alert. During her remand it! custody C had clearly hypomanic periods and periods of depression. She~ was also found, on investigation, to have an abnormal electro-encephalograph reading. The Crown, although initially charging C with murder, finally accepted a plea to Intanticide (Crimes Act, 1958, s.6) and the court, after hearing psychiatric evidence, made an order for her admission to a mental institu­ tion in lieu of passing any sentence. The order was made pursuant to section 51, Mental Health Act, 1959. This case demonstrates the very ill-defined area between the clear cut case of infanticide and the case where the proper course would be the raising of a defence of insanity to a charge of murder. - A.A.B.

Journal

Australian & New Zealand Journal of CriminologySAGE

Published: Sep 1, 1970

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