12. Exaggerated Fears of North Korean Soldiers
At a coroner’s inquest, a psychiatrist testified that he thought Ivy Cogdon was a somnambulist, or sleepwalker. As described by other doctors who had treated her before she killed her daughter, Cogdon’s medical history included powerful night terrors. She had been described as a “hysterical type” prone to blackouts and somnambulism. Their conclusion was that Mrs. Cogdon would not have known what she was doing when she killed her daughter. At trial, Cogdon testified that of her many fears, her greatest was of the recently started Korean War, and that she was obsessed with how to protect her family if North Korean soldiers invaded. She was particularly worried that the invaders would “pollute” her daughter. On the night of the homicide, those fears were exacerbated and made more vivid when her daughter told her that she would volunteer as a transport driver if the Koreans invaded Australia.
