Irkutsk mother to undergo psychological exam after killing two children

The mother who killed her two children before New Year in Novo-Lenino will undergo a psychological and psychiatric examination to determine whether she understood what she was doing, said Anatoly Sitnikov, head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) for Irkutsk Oblast, at a press conference on January 21.

“We have grounds to raise before the commission of psychiatrists the issue of this mother’s mental competence in the context of postpartum depression that developed with the birth of her third child, who survived, and with the development of some deviations bordering on psychiatric disorders,” Sitnikov noted.

The chief investigator of the Angara region noted that this family should not have attracted close attention from preventive agencies.

“The family is complete, full-fledged, both parents work, have a normal income, never came into the zone of influence, the zone of interest, and could not even hypothetically. But unfortunately, psychology and psychiatry are such subtle matters that require, above all, attention from loved ones and prevention from specialist doctors,” the head of the department added.

On the evening of December 28, in one of the houses on Baumana Street the bodies of two boys aged 3 and 5 were found with signs of a violent death. The children’s mother was suspected of the murder, and she confessed immediately after detention. “Vesti-Irkutsk” with reference to its own source clarified that the mother suffocated the children with pillows. Presumably, she acted in a state of psychosis. The woman was remanded in custody until February 27.