A former cult leader has said he regrets starving his young son to death, saying that he was a 'sociopath' at the time.
In 2002 Jacques Robidoux was convicted of murdering his 11-month-old son Samuel by refusing to feed him anything other than his mum's milk, which she was unable to produce at that point.
At the time, Robidoux was the leader of the Attleboro religions cult in Massachusetts and claimed that he believed his son would be damned by God if he ate anything else.
Robidoux told CBS Boston: "I essentially became a compartmentalised sociopath.
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"Once the realisation came that 'Holy God, I killed my own son. How did this even happen?' So then everything begins to start. Everything begins to unravel."
He went on: "In order to serve God, in order to save my family, in order to save my son who essentially was dying... I had to go through with this."
During his trial, prosecutors said not only did Robidoux kill his baby son in 1999, but he also 'told others members of cult to ignore Samuel's pain'.
Talking about the death, Robidoux said: "It didn't take long, you know as I was holding him he was crying. He was crying because he was hungry.
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"So as I'm holding him and he's crying and I'm, I'm crying, then of course the thought comes that well in order for me to fulfill this will of God, I have to be strong for my family. I have to be strong for Samuel."
Samuel died in April 1999, after which Robidoux buried the body in Baxter State Park in Maine. It was discovered around a year later, and Robidoux went on trial for first degree murder in 2002.
He was sentenced to life in prison, and says that being banged up has helped him finally face the truth of what he did.
He said: "That big unravelled ball of yarn - it's taken quite a few years to unravel it, but every time I do, it's freeing."
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While serving his sentence, Robidoux takes part in group counselling sessions with other former cult members.
Counsellor Judy Pardon, who works at a treatment centre for people who have escaped cults, added: "He knows now that God was not involved in that decision about Samuel. But at the time he certainly believed it."