Filicide, the unlawful killing of a child by a parent or parent equivalent such as a step-parent, grand-parent or guardian, (Brown and Tyson, 2012), is a shocking and tragic event. Sadly, Australia appears to have a high incidence of filicide as compared with other countries internationally (Pritchard, Davey and Williams, 2013).

Estimates range from 23 children killed per year (Mouzos and Rushworth, 2003) to 27 children killed per year (Kirkwood, 2012), that is one child approximately killed per fortnight. Children killed range in age from one day old to adulthood, but most research counts only children up to 18.