THE DEVI RAJAB COLUMN: LOTTER MURDER CASE ...

THE DEVI RAJAB COLUMN

SOUTH AFRICAN NEWSLETTER

We are in the midst of a very disturbing trial of parental killing heard before our courts.

Indian families in South Africa are well known for instilling a strong sense of values and morality into their offspring. Their kinship ties are firmly knotted and harboured by community bonds. So when a well known medical doctor who was trained in India was violently killed in her home together with her parents the entire community was agog with little speculation other than the horrific work of criminals. It is not easy to disbelieve this version on account of South Africa?s high incidence of crime. As the story unfolded two young men confessed. One was the teenage son of Dr Anuradha Nursing and the other was a son of a leading Indian psychiatrist. Both boys went to private schools and to all intents and purposes lived a life of luxury. This controversial case of Xerses Nursingh astounded a community unfamiliar with this sort of crime which took place in a leafy suburb in Durban. In a classic case of family killing he wiped out his entire family with the help of his friend. Both boys grew up in a privileged home, attending private schools and enveloped in a deeply religious community. Why would such children blessed with good fortune want to do such a thing as heinous as this? Judge Navineeetham Pillay who now sits as the United Nations commissioner of human rights took it upon herself to call in experts on parricide. They convinced the court that Xerses was being over indulged by his mother with underlying sexual innuendos. Now he is free, married and a father leading his life incognito. But he has left us with doubts and questions about child rearing that few parents can afford to be blas? about with the increasing number of cases of parricide worldwide.

Presently in SA we are in the midst of a very disturbing trial of parental killing being heard before our courts. In a bizarre enactment of cultism, demonic worship and mindless following the scene is set for cold blooded murders. The perpetrators were guiltless, remorseless and mechanical in carrying out their task to fulfil a supposed instruction from the son of God. Their ill begotten friend was more important to them than the lives of their parents. When Hardus and Nicolette Lotter killed their parents in a leafy middle class peaceful suburb of Westville in July 2008 , they shocked the local community.

This case is particularly disturbing for one simple reason. ?People look at them and say, `Wait, these aren?t gutter children or `those? children. These could be any children. These could be our children. ?They?re so beautifully groomed, and their hair is cut, and they?re so pretty. You look at those innocent little faces and wonder how they could do something so horrible.?

Now as the case unfolds in the law courts of South Africa the profiles of such killers seem more in synch with other similar murders worldwide. In the US, Terry King was a decent, loving, hard-working, respectful and respected person who was 40 years old when he was ambushed and bludgeoned to death in his sleep. On November 26, 2001, Terry King was savagely murdered by his own two sons, Alex and Derek King.Despite the lengthy list of convoluted lies told by Alex and Derek King, this was a straight-forward case of First Degree Murder. The killers expressed no remorse at the time of their crimes. In fact, the murderers lied to police and continued to lie about their victim for years.

. In a study on Parricide an empirical analysis of 24 years of US data reported in the Journal of Interpersonal violence , over 5000 cases reveal a profile of perpetrators as being mainly male, white and middle class whose instigation is invariably one of family conflict. Their recommendation is that parents try to develop better relationships within the context of the family.

But though the description of parental killings is near identical, the explanations are still not forthcoming. Psychologists are surprisingly silent allowing the courts to take charge in a legalistic fashion. Does it really make any sense when the court is told that the Lotter children followed the instructions of a friend who led them to believe that he was the third son of God? What kind of a religion, what kind of a God incites followers to commit such heinous crimes against their parents? Is this sanity or madness?

There is a thin line between sanity and madness. Szass in his seminal book the Myth of Mental Illness addresses this arbitrary distinction between normalcy and abnormalcy and questions our very definition of sanity. Mental illnesses affect millions of people in all walks of life in times of peace and in times of war and yet it remains one of the most misunderstood of all medical maladies. Though we tend to group all mental patients as being alike, the affliction can range from severe incapacitation requiring institutionalisation to mild manageable conditions that require medication. However somewhere along this continuum lurks a borderline condition that often goes undiagnosed and hence unmanaged causing much havoc to families, friends, colleagues in the workplace and society in general.

There are a significant number of cases world wide in all societies and racial and cultural groups where loving parents have been killed in cold blood by their very own offspring. In Greek mythology Oedipus killed his father who was unknown to him at the time and married his mother the Queen. Subsequently Sigmund Freud developed the theory of the Oedipal complex where sons were subconsciously in love with their mothers and saw the father figure as a latent threat.

Mary Hudson a local writer of note has written a most interesting book entitled Ripple effect where she describes the sheer havoc caused by border line personality disorders. The main character Charise is a borderline psychopath whose behaviour adversely affects every life that she touches. It is a real life story of several characters that live in and around Durban and who are reminiscent of the proverbial ?Everyman?. The story is a chilling one because the characters are real and they appear to be so normal as their lives unfold so naturally. Yet beneath a fragile veneer of social acceptability lies an intricate web of deceit and social pretence that leaves the reader wondering about the limits of mental stability.

The issues surrounding mental illness in families is a real challenge to vulnerable parents. If we cannot foresee the outcome of our parental socialization we will have to be vigilant in watching our backs. I am aware of some parents in the US who are threatened by their young teenage sons to the extent that they have to lock their rooms at night in fear of their lives. But more than vociferous problem children are the borderline personality types who are very persuasive and manipulative and their behaviour can vacillate between intense love and intense hate. Such individuals are characterized by a persistent pattern of unstable interpersonal relationships that arises from a disturbed self-image. They have little self-insight, which makes rational discussions with them difficult. They often experience a distortion of perception. In close relationships with a superior or even a parent they tend to misinterpret or amplify what others feel about them. For example they may assume persecutory feelings when others may only be mildly annoyed or irritated with them. Often there is the enactment of vengeance in order to get even with the target of their aggression. So parents beware the well mannered interloper and impressionable children who seek religious cults as a means of empowering their weak egos. Mental aberrations can come in any form, dressed up as a religious calling, often based on a faulty premise.

Dr.Devi Rajab is a former Dean of Student Development at UKZN and the author of several books.She is also a consultant to Caprisa, an HIV/Aids Research NGO

Source: http://www.confluence.org.uk/2012/07/28/the-devi-rajab-column-lotter-murder-case/

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