Cape Town - A typical murder victim in the Western Cape is most likely to have been stabbed, had alcohol beforehand and be a black African male aged between 18 to 35.
Murder victims are also killed mostly during the festive season and on weekends between midnight and 6am.
This has emerged from a report by the provincial Community Safety Department looking at murders from 2008 to 2011, using mortuary data to construct a profile of a murder victim and the circumstances under which they died.
Chief director of civilian oversight at the department, Gideon Morris, said the police’s annual crime statistics did not allow for detailed analysis.
Morris said the report was to supplement the available crime statistics “to provide a more holistic overview”. He added that the police crime statistics were a good indicator of what was happening on the ground.
The province had the third highest murder rate of 43.4 in 100 000 in the country in the April 2011 to March 2012 statistics, during which time 2 300 people were killed.
“Murder rates remain the most accurate indicator of crime since they rely on various sources of information held by different government departments. Murder is less likely to be under-reported than less serious crimes,” Morris said.
Forensic Pathology data from the Health Department has corroborated information that the 10 police stations recording the most murders in the province account for more than 44.1 percent. The most murders were committed at Nyanga, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Milnerton and Mfuleni.
Eighty-seven percent of murder victims are male and 13 percent female in a province where females account for 52 percent of the demographics. Most victims are stabbed (49.08 percent), shot (26.02 percent) and through severe assault or blunt trauma (17.02 percent).
Seventy percent of murder victims tested positive for alcohol.
Cape Argus