Transcript Medical Research Council - Interagency Gender Working

“Every Six Hours”:
Intimate Femicide in South Africa
Presented by: Shanaaz Mathews
at
Strengthening Understanding on Femicide
Meeting
Washington DC, 14-16th April 2008
Investigators
• Shanaaz Mathews, Naeema Abrahams &
Rachel Jewkes (Gender & Health Research Unit, MRC),
• Lorna Martin (Dept. of Forensic Medicine, UCT),
• Lisa Vetten (CSVR)
• Carl Lombard (Biostatistics Unit, MRC).
BACKGROUND
• Intimate femicide is the most extreme form and consequence of
intimate partner violence
• The health consequences of IPV have been extensively explored
• Yet, little is known about the mortality of women as a result of IPV
• It is estimated that 40 –70% of female murder victims are killed by
an intimate partner globally (WHO 2002)
• There is an absence of published data from developing countries
• The only other study in South Africa was by Vetten (1996) who
undertook research in one province,
– Cases were identified through inquest inquiries & newspaper reports
– This study estimated that a woman was killed every 6 days in South
Africa
• Before this study the magnitude of the problem in South Africa
had not been explored systematically
Limitations in the design of homicide
studies in developing settings
• Studies on intimate femicide have predominantly been conducted in
developed countries
• These studies mainly used homicide data-bases and FBI
supplemental homicide reports
• Such data-bases do not exist in SA or other similar settings
• Current routine death data collected in SA
– Home affairs only note “cause of death”
– Police homicide only data capture homicide data by gender
• Routine data sources in SA do not enable murder to be studied by
victim-perpetrator relationship
• It required novel ways of accessing the required data
AIMS OF STUDY
• To describe the size of the problem of intimate femicide
• To identify the factors associated with intimate femicide
• To describe aspects of the medico-legal investigation of
femicide
• To compare management of cases of women killed by
intimate and non-intimate partners
DEFINITION OF TERMS
• Female Homicide (or femicide) – the unlawful and
intentional causing of a death of a female
• Intimate Femicide – the intentional killing of a woman
by an intimate partner (husband, boyfriend, cohabiting
partner, same sex partner (current or ex), a rejected
would-be lover as well as perpetrators from
incestuous relationships
• Non-Intimate Femicide - the intentional killing of a
woman by someone other than an intimate partner
SAMPLE
• Data was collected from a nationally representative sample
of mortuaries, so that the findings would be generalisable
nationally
• Mortuaries were stratified based on size:
– Large > 1500 bodies per annum
– Medium 500 -1500 bodies per annum
– Small < 500 bodies per annum
• Sample of mortuaries were drawn taking into account this
stratification
• 25 mortuaries, spread between all provinces
METHODOLOGY
• All female homicides aged 14 and over were identified via death
registers at sampled mortuaries
• If we were uncertain whether a case was a homicide, it was included
and verified with police information and pathologist report
• Post-mortem reports were photocopied and injury and pathology
data extracted by a forensic pathologist
METHODOLOGY cont…..
• Police case numbers were the crucial link to identify investigating
officers responsible for cases
• The aim was to interview the IO in all identified cases
• Where the IO was not available, information was obtained from the
commanding officer or a record review
• Information from IO included:
–
–
–
–
Whether the cases were homicide
Victim- perpetrator relationship
Background of woman and perpetrator
Legal outcome of case
STUDY FINDINGS
STUDY SAMPLE
Total Sample of Female Homicides
1052(unweighted)
3797(weighted)
Police Dockets not traced
72(unweighted)
242 (weighted)
(6.4%)
Cases with Police Data
905(unweighted)
3296(weighted)
(86%)
Case Numbers not traced
75(unweighted)
260 (weighted)
(6.9%)
Perpetrator Known
723(unweughted)
2683(weighted)
(81.4%)
Non-intimate Femicide
365(unweighted)
1335(weighted)
(49.7%)
Intimate Femicide
360(unweighted)
1349(weighted)
(50.3%)
Perpetrator Unknown
180(unweighted)
613 (weighted)
(18.6%)
RATES OF FEMICIDE IN SA
• Overall female rate of 24.7 per 100 000 women 14+ yrs
• Where victim perpetrator relationship was known:
– 50.3% of women were killed by an current or ex husband /
boyfriend and considered as intimate partner femicide
– 8.8 / 100 000 women 14+ yrs compared to
• 2.5 times higher than 3.5/100 000 women 15 years and older
– US North Carolina (Moracco et al 1998)
– In South Africa, 4 women per day are killed by an
intimate partner
– A woman is killed every 6 hours by an intimate partner
Rate per 100 000 women 14+yrs
RATES OF INTIMATE FEMICIDE BY
RACE
20
18.3
18
16
14
12
10
8.8
8.8
8
4.9
6
2.8
4
2
0
RSA
African
Coloured
Indian
White
DISTRIBUTION OF AGES OF VICTIMS
Age comparison of Victims
Non-intimate
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Intimate
14
34
54
Age in years
74
RELATIONSHIP STATUS OF INTIMATE
FEMICIDES
Relationship
Proportion
Common-law Partner
(current & ex)
52.1%
*Boyfriend (current & ex)
27.9%
Husband (current & ex)
18.5%
*Other
1.5%
*Boyfriend: non-cohabiting partner
*Other: incest perpetrator, same sex partner & rejected person proposing love
MECHANISM OF DEATH BY TYPE OF
HOMICIDE
Mechanism
Intimate Partner
%
Others
%
P-value
Gunshot
30.0
32.5
0.56
Sharp force
32.6
33.2
0.82
Blunt force
33.3
21.2
0.02
Strangulation
3.4
8.3
0.02
Asphyxiation
0.1
3.0
0.00
Burns
1.1
2.2
0.37
Drowning
0.4
0.3
0.76
LETHALITY OF FIREARMS
• A third of women were killed by a firearm
• Ownership of a legal firearm was strongly associated with
intimate femicide
• There was a 10 times greater risk of intimate femicide compared
to non-intimate femicide if the perpetrator owned a legal gun
• 20.6% of intimate femicide perpetrators owned a legal and 7.1%
an illegal gun
• The PAR shows us that 64.9% of intimate femicides where the
perpetrator owned a legal gun could have been averted if he did
not own a legal gun
INTIMATE FEMICIDE-SUICIDE
• 1 in 5 men continue to commit suicide after killing am
intimate partner
• Intimate femicide-suicide rate : 1.7 per 100 000 women
14+years
• 66.3% of these men owned a legal gun
• 58% of these men were employed in the security industry
• 29% of these murder-suicides occurred after the woman
ended the relationship
RAPE HOMICIDES
• Rape homicide was suspected in 16.3% of all female
homicides
• Rate of 3.65/100 000 14 years+
• More likely to occur when the perpetrator was a
stranger
• Cause of death more likely blunt force injuries,
strangulations and asphyxiation
• Cause of death less likely to be gunshot
FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH BEING
KILLED BY AN INTIMATE PARTNER
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Younger victim
Older perpetrator
Killed at home
Victim worked as a domestic worker
Victim lived on the street
Perpetrator had a problem with alcohol use
Use of a legal firearm in the murder
Mechanism of death was - Blunt force
(based on a logistic regression model)
CONCLUSIONS
• This study has shown that SA has the highest reported rate of IF,
IF-S and rape homicides in the world where it has been studied
• Mortality from IF is an extension from the IPV problem in SA
rather than homicide
• The study has indicated the need for ongoing surveillance and
monitoring of female homicides
• The findings have been used as an advocacy tool to raise the
issue of intimate femicide with policy makers and civil society
organisations
• Importantly we have developed a model for data collection which
can be adapted to other developing settings