Mariticide (from Latin maritus "married" + -cide, from caedere "to cut, to kill") literally means the murder of one's married partner, but has become most associated with the murder of a husband by his wife, as the reverse is given the name uxoricide.
[edit] Notable instances
[edit] Historical
Anne Williams burned at the stake for mariticide in
Gloucester, 1753.
- Laodice I allegedly poisoned her husband Antiochus II Theos of the Seleucid dynasty around 246 BC.
- Heather Osland drugged and had her son kill her husband in 1991, creating a test case for the 'battered woman syndrome' defense in Australia.[1]
- Katherine Knight murdered her de facto husband by stabbing him, then skinned him and attempted to feed pieces of his body to his children.[2] She was sentenced to life in prison without parole, but her rejected appeal said that the sentence was too severe for the crime.[3]
- In 1991, Pamela Smart had her husband murdered by a student of hers. Though the student committed the murder, the courts ruled that Smart had been guilty of mariticide due to her influence on the young man and her convincing manner to get him to carry out the act.
[edit] Mythological
[edit] References
- ^ Stateline Victoria
- ^ HTML Document: Regina v Knight [2001] NSWSC 1011 revised - 29/01/2002
- ^ Knight loses appeal for skinning partner - Breaking News - National - Breaking News
[edit] See also
- Uxoricide, the practice of killing one's wife
