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.