Intimate femicide-suicide in South Africa: a cross-sectional study
Mathews, S.; Abrahams, N.; Jewkes, R.; Martin, L.J.; Lombard, C.; Vetten, L.
Bulletin of the World Health Organization 86(7): 552-558
2008
ISSN/ISBN: 0042-9686 PMID: 18670666 DOI: 10.2471/blt.07.043786Document Number: 202555
Objective To examine the incidence and patterns of intimate femicide-suicide in South Africa and to describe the factors associated with an increase in the risk of suicide after intimate femicide (i.e. the killing of an intimate female partner).Methods A cross-sectional retrospective national mortuary-based study was conducted at a proportionate random sample of 25 legal laboratories to identify all homicides committed in 1999 of women aged over 13 years. Data were collected from the mortuary file, autopsy report and a police interview.Findings Among 1349 perpetrators of intimate femicide, 19.4% committed suicide within a week of the murder, Suicide after intimate femicide was more likely if the perpetrator was from a white rather than an African racial background (odds ratio, OR: 5.8; 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.21-27.84); was employed as a professional or white-collar worker rather than a blue-collar worker (OR: 37.28; 95% CI: 5.82-238.93); and owned a legal gun rather than not owning a legal gun (OR: 45.26; 95% CI: 8.33-245.8). The attributable fraction shows that 91.5% of the deaths of legal gun-owning perpetrators and their victims may have been averted if this group of perpetrators did not own a legal gun.Conclusion South Africa has a rate of intimate femicide-suicide that exceeds reported rates for other countries. This study highlights the public health impact of legal gun ownership in cases of intimate femicide-suicide.