Track domestic violence murders, WAO urges police after recent killings

 

The Women's Aid Organisation (WAO) has called on the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) to document and track murders related to domestic violence, following reports of two separate incidents of husbands allegedly murdering their wives.

"These murders are not isolated incidents but point towards a broader trend - murders of women are often the result of long periods of domestic violence.

"WAO urgently calls on the PDRM to document and track domestic violence murders, as well as practice stricter, clearer protocols in managing such cases.

"As an immediate step, we urge the Home Affairs Ministry to conduct an analysis of all murder cases in the past five years, to determine how many murders were committed by intimate partners or family members.

"Without accurately tracking domestic violence murders, we risk underestimating its prevalence and minimising the seriousness of domestic violence as a whole – all of which ultimately affect our understanding of domestic violence in Malaysia as a whole," WAO said in a statement today.

They said a 2018 United Nations study found that intimate partners or family members committed 58 percent of female homicide cases recorded globally.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's Domestic Violence Act may cover physical or emotional injury, forced acts sexual or otherwise, detainment and other acts as forms of domestic violence, but murder is not specified as a form of domestic violence.

This results in few official reports or publicly accessible statistics on death as a result of domestic violence, WAO said.

Domestic violence, they said, is often recurring and usually intensifies over time.

"Murders are often the end result of long periods of abuse and are planned instead of highly popularised 'crimes of passion'.

"Classifying murder as domestic violence formally recognises that it is one final, premeditated step in a series of escalating abuse.

"It is essential that first responders like the police know how to accurately track and respond to repeated cases of domestic violence.

"As abuse intensifies with time, this will enable the police to identify high-risk cases and respond adequately to save lives," they said.

It was reported last week that a man had shot dead his wife while she was sleeping at their home in Kota Tinggi after she had asked for a divorce during a quarrel.

This week, police also arrested a man in Tawau who is suspected of slitting his wife's throat after finding out she was having an affair. The wife was believed to be pregnant at the time. - Mkini