Incidents of femicide and sexual homicide in Cape Town are higher than previously reported and gun violence and alcohol abuse are persistent problems.

A study presented at the International Conference for Preventing Violence in Cape Town on Friday found that while young females and elderly females are not spared when it comes to sexual homicide‚ women between the ages of 18 and 40 are most at risk.

The study — Violence against women: epidemiology and pathology of femicides and suspected sexual homicides in Cape Town: a 10-year follow-up study which was written by Itumeleng Molefe‚ showed an average femicide incidence rate of 12.4 per 100‚000 females in Cape Town.

According to Molefe‚ this equates to half of the total South African national incidents for 1999‚ equates to the 2009 national rate and is almost five times the global average.

“This is a problem that is universal and South Africa is by no means immune.

 “South African media plays a very good role in reminding us every day that female homicides (femicides) are a huge problem‚” Molefe said during her presentation.

Molefe’s research period spanned between 2000 and 2009.

 Data was collected from autopsy reports of female bodies admitted at Salt River Forensic Pathology Laboratory in Cape Town from during this period.

“What is interesting is that since 1999‚ the Western Cape has persistently shown very high rates of serious crime and definitely murder continues to be quite prevalent in the province compared to the rest of the country.

 “I reviewed a total record of 6‚231 female homicides and out of that‚ what I felt could be included into my study was just over 1‚000 females.

“The final study sample is what I scrutinised in greater detail to establish if there was an element of fatal sexual violence to the case‚” Molefe said.

“What I found‚ of the cases which were included in my study‚ which averaged to about 100 per year‚ is that the incidents decreased from 18.3 per 100‚000 females to 10.2 per 100‚000 females.

 “But the incidents of suspected-rape-homicide however‚ was a little bit different‚ in that 19.9% of cases were suspected to have an element of sexual violence‚” she added.

 Molefe’s research also noted that previous studies showed that sexual homicide was associated with the presence of multiple injuries in the cause of women’s deaths.

 “In terms of my study‚ there is not very little difference‚ in terms of the areas where there the injuries are inflicted.

“So most of them are still dying from head injuries. They also showed lots of facial injuries as well as neck and thoracic injuries‚” she said

“While a non-sexual violence femicide victim would die from a gunshot wound‚ femicides where an element of sexual violence is present‚ asphyxiation is the predominant cause of death‚” Molefe added.

 “Essentially‚ these findings should be used to motivate for intersectoral collaboration in the form of female homicidal death review (FHDR) teams.

 “These teams should aim to develop standardised guidelines for the forensic management‚ prosecution‚ prevention and monitoring strategies for femicides and sexual homicides in South Africa‚” Molefe said.