Chapter 14

MURDER

In 1998, 24 875 murders were committed in South Africa, of which 49.3% were committed with a firearm.



In this research, conclusions are drawn from 57 incidents analysed, which comprised 7.2% of the docket sample.



It was found that 55.3% of the murder incidents occurred between 16h00 and 24h00.



The majority of murders occurred in residential areas: private residential properties (35.1%) and public residential spaces (26.3%). The other significant location where murders occurred was at places of entertainment or recreation (12.3%). More specifically, 42.1% of victims were at home prior to the incident, 10.2% were at places of entertainment or recreation, and 15.8% were waiting on the streets, at shops (8.8%) or were in transit to or from home (8.8%).



The police (68.4%), friends or family (10.5%), or bystanders (7%) usually reported the crime to the police.



Police detection of murder incidents is high — only 3.5% of all murder incidents are undetected. There is also a high conviction rate for murder incidents. It was found that, in 42.1% of the murder cases, the accused was found guilty, 35.1% of suspects were acquitted, and 19.3% of cases were withdrawn.



In terms of sentencing, fines were imposed in four murder cases (at a value of between less than R1 000 to R3 999), and in 17 cases a prison sentence was imposed (ranging from less than a year to a maximum of 25 years).



Of the 57 murder incidents, 148 people were involved: 71 offenders, 73 victims and four intervening third parties. On average, 2.6 people were involved in each incident. For every one incident, 1.25 offenders and 1.28 victims were involved. The ratio of victims to offenders is 1:0.97.



In 54.4% of incidents, victims and offenders did not know one another, in 19.3% of incidents, they were acquainted ,and in 26.3% of cases, they knew one another well.



Of the 57 murder incidents, 68 firearms and two other weapons were involved. Of the firearms involved, 55 were held by offenders, nine were in possession of victims and four were held by intervening third parties.



It was found that 97.1% of offenders were male. The race profile of the sample of offenders was as follows: 5.9% white; 85.3% coloured; and 8.8% African. There was insufficient information to provide a valid profile of the age, vocation or employment status of offenders.



It was found that 87.5% of murder victims were male and 12.5% were female. The race profile of victims was as follows: 2.8% white; 5.6% African; 90.3% coloured; and 1.4% Asian. In terms of age, 21.2% were between the ages of 16 to 20 years, 43.9% between the ages of 21 to 30 years, and 27.3% between the ages of 31 to 50 years.



Overall, 42.1% of victims were employed and 36.8% were unemployed. In addition, 5.3% were attending school, 5.3% were students and 3.5% were housewives.



It was found that 77.5% of offenders had firearms, 21.1% had no weapon and 1.4% had another type of weapon (such as knife or panga). The majority of offenders carried handguns: 76.7% pistols, 20.9% revolvers, and 2.3% single barrel shotguns. It was found that 40% (22 of 55) of offenders used licenced firearms.



It was found that nine (12.3%) of the 73 victims carried firearms. Victims all carried handguns.



In 94.7% of cases, violence was used, and in 5.3% only threats were used. In the 60 murder incidents, there were 73 victims. Of the 73 victims, five (6.8%) victims were injured and died later, while 60 (82.2%) were fatally injured. Of the 71 offenders, 5.6% were fatally injured and 4% sustained firearm-related injuries.



In only 4.1% of cases, property was reportedly stolen from victims. Only five items were stolen or damaged in murder incidents: cash (two cases), clothing (one case), food or liquor (one case) and damage to buildings (one case).