Most people love their parents. But sometimes it turns deadly

September 22, 2026 — 3:30pm

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How does it happen that the most intense, loving bond between mother and child ends in murder?

The most uncommon form of family violence is this – when a mother is murdered by her own child. We call that murder parricide, when a child, now an adult, murders a parent.

Once, that number was utterly horribly reliable. Awful but reliable. Maybe 12 or so a year. But in the past three years, there has been a sudden surge. First 14, then 18 and, in 2025, 20, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology’s research manager Samantha Bricknell. That figure of 20 presents an increase of just under 70 per cent from the normal, the regular, although there should be nothing normal or regular about murder. And in some of those cases, both parents would have been killed.

This is not an increase because of population. It’s an increase because of pressure.

Last weekend in NSW alone, a 90-year-old woman was allegedly stabbed by her 47-year-old grandson in a Bondi Beach unit. Four hours later, police were called to an incident in northern NSW where they found the decapitated body of a 70-year-old woman. The woman’s son has now been charged with murder.

Researchers tell me they aren’t sure if these figures are just a blip. What they also........

© The Sydney Morning Herald