[Fratricide occurring during a nocturnal episode of somnambulism: a case report]

Occasionally, some people developed violent acts during their sleeping. Fortunately, these acts remain virtual and do not have serious life consequences. However, the execution of the dramatical act may happen in setting automatic activities. The manifestations of these acts are exceptional but very often misappreciated. Among them, we have been confronted to a case of "fratricide expertise" in the north of France. The person concerned is a teenager of 17, accused of the murder of his young brother, by several stabs, in the night. This homicide could be the consequence of multitude of factors. Though he hasn't shown clinical somnambulism, the results of electroencephalogram tracing were symptoms of predisposing factors. We can also imagine the facilitating effect of other factors, ephedrine, more particularly. The rapport with the relevant documents follows an expert's report and can be added to the cases published in the literature in which it was shown that the automatic activity may be at the origin of the medico-legal act of somnambulistic patients. Finally, we have been able to deduce two classes of factors, which may be responsible for violent act execution.