The mother killed her four-year-old - so unusual is filicide in Sweden

At 22.55 on September 29, 2019, the call comes to SOS Alarm:

- I ... I've killed my son, says the woman, who is in her 30s.

In the interrogation, the ambulance staff who tried to revive the four-year-old later reflect that it has been so long that the mother has been able to smoke her cigarette down to the filter.

The murder of the four-year-old boy has shaken Halmstad and Sweden. The mother, who has admitted that she - without intention - brought her child to life, has a previous substance abuse problem and is convicted of violent resistance.

According to the forensic psychiatric examination, the mother does not suffer from a serious mental disorder. But during the investigation it has emerged that she has had contact with both psychiatry and social services. There have also been reports of concern from the preschool.

But that she would kill her child is intangible for those close to her.

- She would never hurt her child, not consciously. In that case, something must have struck her completely wrong, says a relative in an interview with the police.

In recent years, several cases of filicide have been noted in the media. However, the fact that mothers or fathers kill their children is relatively uncommon.

According to a study at the Karolinska Institute, which is based on data from 1973-2008, the researchers identified 151 individuals who killed 184 children in total.

The children are most at risk during the first year, where the first day has the highest mortality. And unlike other violent crimes, there is an even distribution between men and women - in half the cases the perpetrator was a woman.

Exactly what causes parents to murder their children has not been determined. But in many cases, the parent suffers from some kind of mental illness.

According to psychologist Maude Johansson, for example, childbirth psychosis can increase the risk of filicide. Because psychosis leads to a distortion of reality, where the world view has become so confused that you think that you do the children a favor when you take their lives.

In the case of the Halmstad mother, for example, she told in the interrogation that she heard voices - voices that told her to kill her child. She has also said that she was afraid that something worse would happen to her and the child if she did not take her life.

To reduce the risk, a developed and good support package is required for parents who are suspected of suffering from mental illness, says psychologist Maude Johansson.

- In the past, there was a clear collaboration between BB and adult psychiatry. If you thought that something didn't feel right to your mother, subtle things, it would be easier to call her psychiatry. But all that is dismantled now.

In the clip, Henrik Lysell, who studies violence in close relationships, tells us more about filicide - and what you can do to prevent it from outsiders.