A demographic study of homicide–suicide in the Pretoria region over a 5 year period

Abstract

a b s t r a c tA study was undertaken to research the occurrence of homicide-suicide events in the Pretoria region from January 1997 until October 2001. It is important to attempt understanding this tragic phenomenon from psychiatric and forensic perspectives. This uncommon phenomenon has attracted widespread and sensational media coverage, but little is known about the causal factors and demographic profile of perpetrators and victims, and possible sites of intervention. Case files of the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory (where all cases of unnatural death in Pretoria are investigated) were reviewed and information collected from relevant investigating officers of the South African Police Services.The average annual incidence of homicide-suicide in Pretoria over the period studied was found to be 1 per 100,000 of the population. Two profiles of typical perpetrators seem to emerge: a younger, single, black male shooting his girlfriend and himself at home; and an older, married, Caucasian male shooting his wife and himself at home.Employment in peace forces and unemployment are shown to play significant roles, suggesting need for the availability of psychological support systems to members of peace forces and for intervention regarding unemployment.

Suicide in Pretoria: A retrospective review, 2007 - 2010

“…An interesting observation is that 25% of dyadic death incidents were committed by members of the SAPS and SANDF. This appears to be in keeping with data published by Jena et al [29] in 2009 for dyadic deaths in Pretoria, from 1997 to 2001. Our study had a number of limitations.…”

Psychiatric features in perpetrators of homicide-unsuccessful-suicide at Weskoppies Hospital in a 5-year period

“…[2] Our study reflects similar data: the average age of subjects was 33.4 years; 78% (7) subjects were male; and 67% (6) cases involved the alleged homicide of a current or ex-spouse or an intimate partner. [2,[9][10][11][12][13] According to the literature, female perpetrators most frequently kill their children (maternal filicide-suicide) and rarely kill adult victims. [4,9,10] In this study, both female subjects killed 1 or more of their children.…”

“…[11,13] Beating and jumping or pushing from a height and poisoning are also occasionally used. [4] In a South African context, Jena et al [2] found that shooting accounted for 96% of HS cases. In 2% the use of a blunt object and strangulation occurred.…”

“…[1] The annual incidence of HS events in the Pretoria region of the Gauteng Province of South Africa, from 1 January 1997 to 31 October 2001, averaged 1 per 100 000. [2] While these events are rare, they remain devastating to those closely associated with them. The 9th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD-9) defines HS as a homicide committed by a person who subsequently commits suicide within 1 week of the homicide.…”

Homicide–Suicide in China: an Exploratory Study of Characteristics and Types

“…Following calls to develop a research strategy based on reports of these events (Eliason 2009;Liem and Oberwittler 2012) and recent efforts to understand homicide-suicide outside of the United States and Europe (e.g., Adinkrah 2003;Carcach and Grabosky 1998;Chan et al 2004;Hata et al 2001;Jena et al 2009;Moskowitz et al 2006;Roberts et al 2010;Yip et al 2009), the current study examined the phenomenon of multiple-victim homicide-suicide in mainland China. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to do so in this unique context- Yip et al (2009) came closest with their study of homicide-suicide in Hong Kong.…”