06/09/2026
The Tragic Balmain Filicide Case of 1894. In August and September 2026, the world has watched as the controversial trial of Lindsay Clancy has played out in Massachusetts, United States. In January 2023, Clancy killed her three young children, each under the age of five. Her defence did not dispute that she committed the acts; rather, the central question before the court was whether she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder to such an extent that she lacked criminal responsibility. Unlike in New South Wales, where the defence generally bears the burden of establishing mental health impairment, once the issue is properly raised in Massachusetts, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused was criminally responsible. The case has also unfolded in the age of social media, raising difficult questions about how an impartial jury can be assembled when prospective jurors may already have encountered an enormous volume of commentary, speculation and opinion online.
I do not intend to venture further into the particulars of the Clancy case. Instead, it provides a contemporary point of departure for a remarkably similar legal and moral dilemma that confronted New South Wales more than 130 years ago. In March 1894, in the Sydney suburb of Balmain, Sarah Bayley killed her six-year-old daughter, Emily, during what contemporary witnesses, doctors and ultimately the courts accepted was a profound episode of mental illness.
I present the interesting details of this historical case for your reading.
