Father stabbed son to death saying he'd become psychopath like him - Released after only 4 years

Brittany Chain
Daily Mail
Tue, 23 Oct 2018 00:16 UTC

Luca's mum, Julia Trinne (left) said she knew her husband was depressed, but didn't believe she and her family were in immediate danger

A father who stabbed his four-year-old son to death to prevent him from growing into a psychopath has been granted release from his mental health facility.

David Janzow was placed under a lifetime supervision order after he was found not guilty of murdering four-year-old Luca on the grounds of mental illness.

But after only four years, he has been granted day release on the condition he is accompanied by staff from the James Nash House mental health facility in Adelaide.

In July 2014, Janzow took his son to a secluded lookout, where he stabbed him with a hunting knife to 'save Luca from what he was to become,' the ABC reported.

He allegedly told emergency services what he'd done shortly after the attack and said he was a psychopath and expressing his fears that his son had inherited the quality.

'I'm a psychopath with mental health problems. I stabbed my son with a Leatherman [hunting knife],' he allegedly told paramedics.

During Janzow's trial, it was revealed he had previously been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had an extensive history with depression.

After he'd killed his son, he attempted to stab himself in the neck, but upon realisation he couldn't go through with it, drove himself to Athelstone in Adelaide's north-eastern suburbs where he confessed to local police.

Comment: So he was 'courageous' enough to murder his son but was too cowardly to take his own life.

'I knew this was bad, but everyone would be better off. I knew murder was bad but I just had to get rid of us because there is no good bone in a psychopath,' he told a psychiatrist.

Luca's mum, Julia Trinne said she knew her husband was depressed, but didn't believe she and her family were in immediate danger.

'There was no warning. There was no suggestion that any of us were in danger - of anything at all - or by anyone,' she told the Courier Mail.

'If I had any concerns, they would have been with Dave's depression and not letting him get too low, but I was not concerned enough to the point of needing to contact his psychiatrist since Dave saw him the day prior.'

Comment: Website Kidspot provides more details on the mother's experience::

[...]

"If I had any concerns, they would have been with Dave's depression and not letting him get too low, but I was not concerned enough to the point of needing to contact his psychiatrist since Dave saw him the day prior."

The next thing she knew, Trinne was going to the hospital after finding out her husband had taken Luca from their home and "hurt" their little boy.

She was told Janzow was fine, but that Luca might not make it. Shortly after she arrived, the mother got the news she feared: Luca had died.

"Every bit of my being was spinning and aching. It felt as if the world had stopped ... I wanted to find Luca. A sadness that I did not know was possible."

"I have not only survived, I am living"

In the face of a failing business, insurance troubles, little mental health support after the loss of her son, and the fact that she still had to be a mum to Luca's little brother, Trinne said she's proud she survived.

"It shattered my world and heart. I have not only survived, I am living and I am putting together all of the pieces. This takes love, support, time, mindfulness and a whole lot of soul searching and more," she said.

In her victim impact statement during her Janzow's trial, she called for more focus on mental health issues in South Australia and the wider community, and said she hoped that positive change could come out of her tragedy.

"This tragedy will bring about the importance of acknowledging and supporting someone with a mental illness, for people around them not to deny or be ashamed of an illness but rather accept it; work together, talk about it and seek the help that is needed," she said in her statement.

"There will be positive things that will come out of this tragedy and I will make sure that happens."

On Monday, Justice Trish Kelly adjourned Janzow's application for limited release for four months until two psychiatric reports could be conducted.

As the father said himself, 'I'm a psychopath with mental health problems', and there is little help that can be given to a psychopath, what is needed is to protect the community to which he would intend to harm. And so in this instance the judiciary failed by releasing this demonstrably dangerous man back into the community.

For more on psychopathy:

• 6 Incredibly common misconceptions about Psychopaths
• Ponerology 101: The Political Psychopath
• Psychopathy: What you probably don't know about it
• The West is ruled by psychopaths
• When your child is a psychopath

Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Florida School Mass Shooting: Gun Control, Mental Illness and the Criminal Mind