Investigators

1
Presentation to The Joint Monitoring Committee
on the Improvement of the Quality of Life and
Status of Women20th May 2005Intimate Femicide
in South AfricaMain Study Findings

• Investigators
• Shanaaz Mathews, Naeema Abrahams
• Rachel Jewkes (Gender Health Research Unit,
  MRC),
• Lorna Martin (Dept. of Forensic Medicine, UCT),
• Lisa Vetten (CSVR) Lize van der Merwe
  (Biostatistics Unit, MRC),

2
Background to Study

• Intimate femicide is the most extreme form of
  domestic violence
• Worldwide, 40 70 of female murder victims are
  killed by an intimate partner (WHO 2002)
• Vetten (1996) undertook research in Gauteng, with
  cases identified through inquest inquiries
  newspaper reports and had estimated that a woman
  was killed every 6 days in South Africa
• However, before this study the magnitude of the
  problem was unknown in SA

3
Aims of Study

• To describe the size of the problem of intimate
  femicide in SA
• To identify the factors associated with intimate
  femicide in SA
• To describe aspects of the medico-legal
  investigation of femicide in SA
• To compare management of cases of women
• killed by intimate and non intimate partners

4
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) or a rejected would-be lover
• Non-Intimate Femicide - the intentional killing
  of a woman by someone other than an intimate
  partner

5
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 gt 1500 bodies per annum
• Medium 500 -1500 bodies per annum
• Small lt 500 bodies per annum
• Sample of mortuaries were drawn taking into
  account this stratification
• 25 mortuaries, spread between all provinces

6
MORTUARIES SAMPLED
gt1500 Bodies
500 - 1499 Bodies
lt500 Bodies
7
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

8
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

9
So what were the findings?
10
Study Sample (weighted)
11
Intimate Femicide Rate in SA

• 50.3 of women murdered by a known perpetrator
  were killed by an intimate partner
• SA rate 8.8 / 100 000 women 14 yrs compared
  to
• USA 1.6 /100 000 (Stout, 2001)
• Canada range (0.55 1.26) / 100 000 (Gartner et
  al, 2001)
• In other words

12

• In South Africa, a woman is killed every 6 hours
  by an intimate partner
• 4 women per day are killed by an intimate partner

13
Relationship Status of Intimate Femicides
Proportion Proportion
Cohabiting Partner 50.1
Boyfriend 29.9
Husband (civil traditional) 18.4
Incest perpetrator 0.7
Same Sex Partner 0.6
Rejected suitor 0.3
14
Distribution of ages of victims
Mean Age Intimate 30.4 vs. Non-intimate
41.2 p lt 0.001
15
Perpetrator age by type of female homicide
Years Non- intimate Intimates All
lt20 12.2 0.1 5.0
20 29 44.1 34.0 38.1
30 39 26.9 40.5 34.9
40 49 11.7 16.1 14.3
50 - 59 2.4 6.5 2.1
60 4.2 2.7 1.1
16
Employment Status of Perpetrators
17
Legal outcomes of prosecuted cases
Outcomes Non-intimate Intimate
Convicted 52.6 50.6
Acquitted 15.3 20.5
Charge withdrawn 17.9 15.2
Trial in progress/ Charged awaiting trial 14.0 13.2
Declared a state patient 0.2 0.4
Proportion of all cases resulting in a
conviction 23.9
18
Non-Legal Outcomes

• 19.4 of intimate femicide perpetrators committed
  suicide
• 11.5 of perpetrators were not arrested, but were
  strongly suspected of having committed the murder

19
Jail time served by type of femicide
20
Medico-legal evidence

• The forensic examiner very rarely visited the
  crime scene
• Of all specimens taken, blood to measure the
  victims alcohol level was most commonly taken
  (43.7)
• Only 11.1 of cases had any specimens collected
  for DNA analysis

21
Mechanism of Death by Type of Homicide
Non-intimate Intimate femicide
Firearm 33.7 30.7
Sharp 34.3 33.4
Blunt Force 22.1 34.9
Strangled/Asphyxiated 10.6 3.7
Fire 2.3 1.1
Drowned 1.6 0.9
22
Number of injuries
23
Lethality of Firearms

• A third of women were killed by a firearm
• 20.6 of intimate femicide perpetrators owned a
  legal and 7.1 an illegal gun
• 64.9 of intimate femicides could have been
  prevented if the perpetrator did not own a legal
  gun
• 80.1 of intimate femicide-suicides (the
  perpetrator continues to commit suicide) could
  have been averted if the perpetrator did not own
  a legal gun

24
Security Industry Workers

• 10.6 of the perpetrators of intimate femicides
  was employed as security workers (police,
  security industry, army)
• 89 owned a legal gun that was used in the
  murders
• Intimate femicide rate of 47.8/100 000 security
  workers in the population

25
How important is knowing the history of Intimate
Partner Violence?

• In 2/3 of the intimate femicide cases previous
  history of violence was not known
• Where it was known, the overwhelming majority
  (94.3) had a history of violence
• Interviews with IOs suggested that a history of
  intimate partner violence is not considered an
  important aspect of the investigation
• Had questions about this been asked routinely,
  they may have provided leads on some of the
  cases where the perpetrator was unknown
• The findings the study show that history of
  intimate partner violence was an important factor
  in the successful prosecution of cases

26
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)

27
Factors associated with the perpetrator to be
convicted for IF

• Convictions were more likely
• If the perpetrator was a farm worker
• A weapon was found
• If there was a history of IPV
• If there was more external injuries
• Convictions were less likely
• If the perpetrator had an alcohol problem
• If the PM provided a good description of external
  wounds
• If specimens were collected for DNA analysis
• (based on a logistic regression model)

28
Problems with police data capturing systems
revealed by the research
29
Death Registers

• All mortuaries are supposed to have death
  registers but we found that at 3 / 25 there was
  none.
• In one other mortuary it was incomplete
• Police case numbers are not always entered into
  death registers (they should be there to enable
  linking of information)

30
Police Information Systems

• No evidence of a police investigation could be
  traced in 6.9 of cases identified at mortuaries
• Police data bases do not capture the name of the
  victim, but the name of the complainant which
  compounds the follow-up process

31
Missing Dockets police filing is inadequate

• 6.4 of cases identified at mortuaries with
  correct case numbers had missing dockets
• The main reasons given
• dockets not returned from court
• dockets misfiled
• archive rooms in poor state
• At a Free State police station the dockets for
  1999 were in a garage and not accessible as there
  was no filing system
• A fire at a KZN police station resulted most
  dockets for the study period being destroyed

32
Conclusions

• This study has shown that SA has the highest
  reported rate of IF in the world
• IF is the most extreme manifestation and
  consequence of IPV and therefore linked to levels
  of gender inequality within SA
• Strategies to prevent such cases from occurring
  is imperative and secondly effective management
  of the criminal justice investigation is critical

33
In the news this week ..
34
Recommendations

• Advocacy strategies need to build an awareness of
  intimate femicide and target women in communities
  in order for them to understand their risks of
  being killed by a partner in particular the risks
  being killed by his legal gun.
• Civil society organisations have an important
  role in identifying women at risk and assisting
  them to develop appropriate safety plans.
• The development and implementation of a National
  Surveillance System to monitor cases of intimate
  female homicides and its legal process. This
  system will allow us to monitor trends and ensure
  that case management is effective and efficient
• An opportunity exists with the Dept. of Health
  taking over the management of mortuaries to
  improve existing services. An efficient system
  needs to be established to ensure that all cases
  of female homicide are followed-up and that
  justice is ensured.
• On a positive note S.A. has new Gun Control
  legislation which supports reducing access of
  guns to known perpetrators of IPV. The
  legislation should thus be vigorously monitored
  and enforced.