4-Year-Old Saudi Boy Kills Father Over PlayStation

A disgruntled 4-year-old Saudi boy fatally shot his father for not buying him a PlayStation, media reports said.

Saudi police in the southern Jizen area said the 4-year-and-7-months old child got hold of his father's pistol to shoot him right in his head from a close range, after the man returned home without the PlayStation, AFP reported. The boy grabbed the weapon, as his father put it down while undressing.

Instances of patricide, though believed to be uncommon, have been reported more often in recent times. Early this month, a British teenager Daniel Bartlam, who was 14 when he bludgeoned his mother to death and burned the body, was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Bartlam, who earlier denied that he killed his mother in a chilling incident on April 25 last year, was unanimously convicted by a jury in February.

Researchers categorize children with criminal tendencies to kill their parents, as severely mentally ill, dangerously antisocial, and severely abused, a Guardian report said.

Approximately 250 parents are killed by their offspring each year, according to the statistics provided in 2010 by Kathleen Heide, professor of criminology at the University of South Florida and the author of Why Kids Kill Parents: Child Abuse and Adolescent Homicide.

Though it is not possible to predict that a youth will kill his or her parent, research has indicated there are certain factors, if present, that increase the likelihood of a youth killing a parent, Heide said. According to her, the factors include chemically dependent or dysfunctional family, an ongoing pattern of family violence, violent domestic conditions, mental stress and the availability of a firearm.