Introduction:
The issue of dangerous crimes has attracted the interest of researchers in different fields. All research suggests the existence of a link between violence, homicide and mental illness [1,2,3]. This association is more observable in relation to severe mental disorders, such as psychotic ones. Delusions and hallucinations are among factors motivating crimes [4,5]. Delusional misidentification syndromes (DMS) are defined as a group of disorders involving a belief that the identity of a person, object, or place has been replaced or altered. These psychopathological phenomena, relatively misdiagnosed, can be observed in psychiatric as well as neurological illnesses [6]. They include Capgras syndrome, Frégoli syndrome, subjective doubles syndrome, and intermetamorphosis delirium, and they can be associated with patient violent behavior [7]. Some intrafamily crimes, in particular murder of the misidentified person (parricide, matricide, fratricide..), have been described as associated with these syndromes [8, 9].
Here, we present the case of a mother killing her child. This crime was motivated by a morbid impulse due to DMS, in a strange crime scene including evisceration and enucleation. Through this case, we seek to better understand the role of the DMS in criminal acting out and to highlight the importance of violence risk assessment in mentally disordered patients.