Free Parents Who Kill--Shocking True Stories of the World's Most Evil Parents by Carol Anne Davis Page A

displayed signs of mania, whereupon her diagnosis was changed to bi-polar affective disorder and she was treated with Lithium and Prozac. She stabilised on the drugs, graduated with honours and began studying to become a consultant psychiatrist, gaining an MRCPsych and working in Guy’s and St Thomas’s hospital. In 1991, she married David, a fellow psychiatrist.
    When she wanted to have a baby, Daksha discontinued her medication for fear that it would harm the foetus. In July 2000, the 34-year-old gave birth to a daughter, Freya. But, though she initially bonded with the infant and referred to her as precious, she became increasingly depressed. She was also upset and felt isolated when her father fell out with her husband and the former said that he wouldn’t visit her home again.
CLINICAL DEPRESSION
    Aware of the stigma of mental health, Daksha told no one about the full extent of her illness. She kept a diary in which she wrote ‘Feel flat all the time… Feel useless as a wife, as a mother, as a woman. See no hope for the future… I’m a useless mother. I’m no good.’
    She was due to resume her anti-depressants on 10 October, but on the 9th, when Freya was three-months-old, she stabbed the baby and herself at her Newham home, though the wounds did not prove fatal. She then doused them both with an inflammable liquid and set them alight. The three-month-old died at the scene but Dr Emson was rushed to the burns unit where she eventually expired, without regaining consciousness, on the 27th. The murder-suicide was later described as a psychotic episode and an enquiry showed that Newham didnot have a perinatal psychiatric service and suggested that this service must become available for all mothers. Daksha’s husband later said that she had ‘taken the baby back to God.’
CULTURE CLASH
    But it’s not only post-natal depression which makes a woman kill her children and herself. Sometimes the stresses come from external factors, everything from financial problems to marital difficulties. Young Asian women who have been raised in Britain also face the culture clash between their western ambitions and the traditional demands of their extended families. Torn between two very different cultures, and believing in an afterlife, they may see familicide as the only answer – the suicide rate among young Asian women is almost three times the national average.
NAVJEET SIDHU
    Navjeet was raised in Southall, London and grew into a competent and happy young woman. In 1998 she landed a job as a receptionist at the Asian station Sunrise Radio, where her colleagues found her to be assertive and cheerful. That same year, she had an arranged marriage to Manjit Sidhu, who had been born in India. Some of her friends thought that the marriage was unhappy, but the couple had a daughter and a son together and both parents doted on them. They set up home in Greenford, west London, where, for a time, Navjeet’s mother lived with them. Manjit worked for the post office whilst Navjeet continued her reception work with Sunrise Radio.
    But Navjeet never fully recovered from the birth of her second child, Aman Raj, in 2003. (Aman is the Punjabi word for ‘peace’.) The following year she became a full-time housewife and seemed driven to be the perfect mother, alwaystaking her offspring to the park and to play centres. She seemed to find it difficult to relax.
    In January 2005, Navjeet went to India to spend time with her relatives and, when she returned to London, she was very quiet. Friends noticed that her unhappiness had deepened but she would not say what was on her mind. She spoke to a former colleague and he got the impression that she was somewhat isolated and lonely. Another noticed that she looked depressed and worn down. Her GP had given her tranquillisers for depression, but apparently there was a breakdown in communication between doctors and social workers regarding her case.
    In early summer 2005, Navjeet confided in a friend