Khoele Kwena B, de Wet Paul H, Pretorius Hermanus W, Sommerville Jaqui
South African Military Health Services, South Africa.
Department of Psychiatry, Weskoppies Hospital, South Africa.
S Afr J Psychiatr. 2016 May 6;22(1):887. doi: 10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v22i1.887. eCollection 2016.
Women charged with murder or attempted murders of children are usually sent for forensic psychiatric evaluation. In South Africa research and literature on this population is scarce. A case series was studied of forensic files of 32 females charged with murder or attempted murder of children. These files contained information on such females. The forensic psychiatric observation was mainly to establish whether a psychiatric diagnosis could be made, and whether they were triable and accountable. Files from 01 Jan 1990 to 31 Dec 2010 (21 years) were obtained of cases observed in Weskoppies Hospital. The aim of describing this case series was to attempt to find a psychiatric profile of such cases, as well as to find other information for example, demographics. The findings, after forensic observation regarding their ability to follow court proceedings and their ability to contribute meaningfully to their defence (trialability) as well as their ability to distinguish between right and wrong, and their ability to act in accordance with the said appreciation (accountability) at the time of the alleged offence were also reported. This information could contribute to making medical practitioners and mental health care workers aware of risk factors involving such cases and to encourage them to enquire about these risk factors.
被控谋杀或企图谋杀儿童的女性通常会被送去进行法医精神病学评估。在南非，关于这一人群的研究和文献稀缺。对32名被控谋杀或企图谋杀儿童的女性的法医档案进行了病例系列研究。这些档案包含了关于此类女性的信息。法医精神病学观察主要是为了确定是否能做出精神病学诊断，以及她们是否应受审判并承担责任。获取了1990年1月1日至2010年12月31日（21年）期间在韦斯科皮斯医院观察到的病例档案。描述这个病例系列的目的是试图找出此类病例的精神病学特征，以及找出其他信息，例如人口统计学信息。还报告了法医观察结果，包括她们理解法庭程序的能力、为自己辩护做出有意义贡献的能力（应受审判性），以及她们辨别是非的能力，和在被指控犯罪时根据上述认知采取行动的能力（应负责任性）。这些信息有助于让医生和精神卫生保健工作者了解此类案件的风险因素，并鼓励他们询问这些风险因素。
