Granpa kills autistic grandchild
2003-08-17 09:55
Jerusalem - A seven-year-old autistic girl was shot dead by her grandfather who then committed suicide as he could not bear to see the girl's parents struggle to bring up their daughter, Israeli press reports said Sunday.
Pedro Lichinsky, 72, a member of a kibbutz in northern Israel, had taken the girl for a regular drive in his car last Friday but police were alerted when they failed to return to the family home at Rosh Ha-Ayin.
The two bodies were eventually found in a field near Petah Tikva with gunshots to the head.
Police found a 15-page suicide note in Lichinsky's room in which he explained that he could not bear to see the girl's parents try and cope with the young girl while bringing up another child.
- AFP