Killing The Beloved

When a couple marry and repeat their vows, often including the preceding lines, who would imagine that for some of them the 'death' that will sever the marital tie would be the result of the other's action? That one day, perhaps in a moment of rage, the once beloved partner will pick up a gun or knife and kill. Just in a nine-month period, a spate of these tragic acts, which included the suicide of the offender (and thus received a good deal of publicity), took place throughout Australia: October 1990, Sydney, man kills his wife, mother-in-law and himself; December 1990, Canberra, estranged husband killed wife, two children and himself; January 1991, Adelaide, woman and three children killed, husband missing; January 1991, Brisbane, estranged husband kills former de facto, father-in-law, his 11-month old baby and himself; May 1991, Adelaide, man kills his defacto and himself; June 1991, Tasmania, man kills his girlfriend and himself....