Intimate femicide-suicide in South Africa: a cross-sectional study.
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.


RESULTS
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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Mathews
Shanaaz
S
Gender and Health Unit, Medical Research Council, South Africa. shanaaz.mathews@mrc.ac.za
Abrahams
Naeemah
N
Jewkes
Rachel
R
Martin
Lorna J
LJ
Lombard
Carl
C
Vetten
Lisa
L
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001344:Autopsy; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003644:Death Certificates; D005260:Female; D005389:Firearms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006708:Homicide / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011634:Public Health; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000145:classification*; D012923:Social Class; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D013405:Suicide / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014930:Women