Citation

Cocks J, Saayman G. Med. Sci. Law 2013; 53(2): 61-66.

Affiliation

Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Pretoria, PO Box 2034, Pretoria 0001, South Africa.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, British Academy of Forensic Sciences, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1258/msl.2012.012027

PMID

23086983

Abstract

This study aimed to establish the incidence of homicide, associated pathology of trauma and victim profiles in cases admitted to or managed as homicidal deaths at the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory (PMLL) over the period of 2007-2008. A total of 1088 cases were reviewed. Homicides accounted for 22.7% of all cases admitted to the PMLL. The majority of homicide victims were male individuals (87.0%). The most common cause of death was gunshot wounds (42.6%), followed by blunt force trauma (25.1%). Homicides are most likely to occur at the victim's place of residence (28.5%) and only 37.4% of victims survive long enough to receive hospital care. The results of this study seem to concur with international findings for the most part, with a few interesting deviations. Highlighting at-risk groups, as well as dangerous locations and incident times, creates the potential to decrease the occurrence of unnecessary deaths by generating an awareness of the trends.

Language: en