Serious self stabbing with a knife during sleep-walking

ABSTRACT

Night terrors and sleep-walking have been commonly associated with disturbed behaviour and violence. Violence towards other people, rarely with weapons, have been reported, but violence towards self, in particular using weapons, his not been well documented. A case of serious self stabbing with a knife during sleep-walking is reported with emphasis on the medico-legal implications involved in such cases. Conditions which may lead to resumption of the disorder in adulthood will be discussed and the possibility of these same conditions precipitating sleep-walking in adulthood with no such history in childhood will be considered