J O U R N A L O F

www.elsevier.com/locate/jcfm

Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine 12 (2005) 254–257

CLINICAL

FORENSIC

MEDICINE

Original communication

A study of homicidal deaths in medico-legal autopsies atUMMC, Kuala Lumpur

Virendra Kumar *, Adeline Khaw Mae Li, Ahmad Zaid Zanial, Ding Ai Lee,Syahrul Anuar Salleh

Department of Pathology (Forensic Unit), Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia

Available online 7 April 2005

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to determine the causes and epidemiological aspects of homicidal deaths. Data were collected on

217 homicidal victims from the total number of 2762 autopsies performed in UMMC, Kuala Lumpur over a five-year period, from

year 1999 to 2003. There were 194 male victims and 23 female victims. The largest number of victims (63.6%) were in the age group

of 20–39 years. Indians comprised the maximum proportion of victims (28.1%). Approximately 71.9% of victims came from the

semiskilled and unskilled group. A majority of victims were married (47%). Injuries caused by sharp weapons (41%) were the most

common cause of death, followed by blunt trauma and firearm injuries.

� 2005 Elsevier Ltd and AFP. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Homicide; Epidemiological aspects; Weapons of homicide; Semiskilled–unskilled group

1. Introduction

Homicide means taking of the life of one person by

another.1 Homicide is death due to injuries inflicted by

another person with intention to injure or kill, by any

means.

Homicide can be classified as either non-criminal or

criminal. The non-criminal category includes �justifiable�and �excusable� homicides, those committed in self de-fense or in the line of duty by a police officer.2 Criminal

homicide, which is of particular concern in this study,

can also be classified as two types, namely culpable

homicide and murder. In Malaysia, Culpable homicide

has been defined as ‘‘whoever causes death by doing

an act: (i) with the intention of causing death; (ii) with

the intention of causing such bodily injury as is likely

to cause death; (iii) with the knowledge that he is likely

1353-1131/$ - see front matter � 2005 Elsevier Ltd and AFP. All rights rese

doi:10.1016/j.jcfm.2005.02.007

* Corresponding author.

E-mail addresses: drvkr_2001@yahoo.com, drvirendrakr@

rediffmail.com, virendrakr@ummail.um.edu.my (V. Kumar).

by such act to cause death, commits the offence of culpa-ble homicide’’.3

Similarly, Murder has been defined as ‘‘culpable

homicide is murder, if the act by which the death is

caused is done: (i) with the intention of causing death;

(ii) with the intention of causing such bodily injury as

the offender knows to be likely to cause the death of

the person to whom the harm is caused; (iii) with the

intention of causing bodily injury to any person, andthe bodily injury intended to be inflicted is sufficient in

the ordinary course of nature to cause death; (iv) if the

person committing the act knows that it is so immi-

nently dangerous that it must in all probability cause

death, or such bodily injury as is likely to cause death,

and commits such act without any excuse for incurring

the risk of causing death, or such injury as aforesaid’’.3

Several factors such as age, sex, religion, ethnicity,socioeconomic status, literacy, weapon and others influ-

ence the act of homicide. In Malaysia, past statistics

have shown that 127 (0.3%) medically certified deaths

and 19 (0.03%) uncertified deaths in 1999 were due to

rved.

5.5 5.56.5

22.6

28.1

22.6

9.210

15

20

25

30

Per

cen

tag

e (%

)

V. Kumar et al. / Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine 12 (2005) 254–257 255

homicide.4 These data probably represent the tip of the

iceberg. At present, limited data about homicide in

Malaysia have been published. The main objective of

this present study was to determine the different epide-

miological aspects of homicidal deaths in Malaysia.

0

5

IndianChineseMalay Indonesian Bangladeshi Others Unknown

Ethnicity

Fig. 2. Ethnicity of the victims.

7.813.8

6.5

71.9

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Semiskilled-unskilled

Clerical-skilled Professional-managerial

UnknownP

erce

nta

ge

(%)

2. Materials and methods

A 217 homicidal deaths, (of the total number of 2762

autopsies performed in the Department of Forensic

Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, UM from January

1999 to December 2003) provided the data of the present

study.The autopsy reports of all victims were traced and the

relevant information extracted. Then the data were en-

tered into SPSS (version 8.0) (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illi-

nois, USA) a computer database and were analyzed

epidemiologically as per their sex, age, ethnicity, socio-

economic status, marital status and weapons of

homicide.

Fig. 3. Socioeconomic status of the victims.

Table 2

Marital status of the victims

Marital status n %

Single 83 38.2

Married 102 47.0

Unknown 32 14.7

Total 217 100. 0

41.040

45

3. Results

The total number of homicidal deaths during the 5-

year study period was 217 (about 7.8% of all deaths).

An overwhelming majority of the victims (89.4%) were

male (Table 1).

63.6% were in the 20–39 years age group (Fig. 1).28.1% of the victims were Indians, followed by an

equal number of cases amongst Indonesians (22.6%)

and Chinese (22.6%) (Fig. 2).

Most of the homicidal victims came from the semi-

skilled–unskilled group (71.9%) (Fig. 3). 47% were mar-

ried (Table 2).

Table 1

Sex of the victims

Sex n %

Male 194 89.4

Female 23 10.6

Total 217 100

6.911.1 12.4

39.6

24.0

6.010

05

15202530354045

Below 19years

20 to 29years

30 to 39years

40 to 49years

50 years &above

Unknown

Per

cen

tag

e (%

)

Fig. 1. Age distribution of the victims.

14.3

20.3

1.4

23.0

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Bluntweapons

Sharpweapons

Firearm Others Unknown

Per

cen

tag

e (%

)

Fig. 4. Weapons of homicide.

Sharp cutting weapons (41.0%) were more commonly

used for homicide, than blunt weapons (20.3%) (Fig. 4).

4. Discussion

Malaysia has a population of about 21.7 million and

its age and sex wise distribution is as below:

256 V. Kumar et al. / Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine 12 (2005) 254–257

� 0–14 years: 35% (male 3,914,112; female 3,697,731);

� 15–64 years: 61% (male 6,655,506; female 6,642,073);

� 65 years and over: 4% (male 386,387; female

497,484).5

Though homicidal deaths in this population is less(0.02 per 1000 people)6 compared with some other coun-

tries, it is still desirable to aim for a homicide free

society.

Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia with a popu-

lation of about nearly 2 million has four autopsy cen-

ters, of which UMMC is one.

Every year, throughout the five-year study period, the

number of homicidal deaths was fairly constant with themaximum number of cases occurring in 2001 (58 cases).

In the present series of study, motives for homicides

were varied. But mostly it was due to gang rivalry, busi-

ness rivalry or theft. For some, family problems were

also encountered.

Men are more commonly victims perhaps as they are

generally working outdoors and are more exposed to

stress, frustrations and violence. Nevertheless, womenoften become victims of domestic homicides due to

physical disadvantage and incapability of resistance to

violence. Milroy et al.7 also reported a similar finding

in Victoria, Australia in 1997.

This study shows that people of all age groups were

involved. The age group of 20–39 years was at the high-

est risk, which is consistent with other studies8,9. This

was not surprising as this age group is the most exposedto violent trauma by the nature of its life style. The num-

ber of homicidal deaths declines towards the both ex-

treme of age. Fifteen victims were found to be below

the age of 19 years, most of their deaths were due to

physical abuse and inattention after life-birth.

Malaysia is a multiracial country. Malay, Chinese

and Indian are the main races, followed by aborigines

and other races. Homicidal cases took its greatest tollamong the Indians, followed by the Chinese and Ma-

lays. As a developing country, there has been a recent in-

flux of foreign workers in Malaysia because of job

opportunities. Hence, they form a small proportion of

the Malaysian population. Accordingly, about 28% of

victims were those from neighbouring countries, namely

Indonesia and Bangladesh.

It was not possible to list each victim�s social status assuch, but an estimation could be established from

employment information. Victims were classified into

three socioeconomic groups based on their occupation:

semiskilled–unskilled, clerical-skilled and professional-

managerial. Most of the victims came from the semi-

skilled–unskilled group. This comprises labourers,

construction workers and factory workers. Possibly,

the lack of financial means faced by these victims con-tributed towards their involvement in violent activities

and also their inability to safeguard themselves from

their assailants. Technicians, clerks and supervisors are

included in the clerical-skilled group whereas managers,

executives and engineers are in the professional-manage-

rial group.

In addition, this study also reveals that married peo-

ple were more likely to become victims of homicide.The available data shows that the most common

method of homicide was by using sharp weapons such

as parang, knives, sickles and daggers, possibly due to

the availability of such weapons. Avis8 also reported

that deaths due to sharp force were more common than

blunt trauma in Newfoundland, Canada. In our study,

blunt trauma was the second leading cause of death, fol-

lowed by firearm injuries. Deaths due to shooting wereuncommon as there is strict legislation of firearm posses-

sion in Malaysia. However, in the United States, fire-

arms were the most common weapons of homicide.2,10

Nevertheless, in our study, there were few cases where

the usage of firearms by police officers in the line of duty

resulted in the death of a few victims.

Asphyxia, burns and child abuse were classified under

other methods of homicide. There were some interestingcases whereby the assailants used multiple methods

including blunt and sharp weapons together to kill their

victims. A number of victims died due to pre-existing

diseases such as coronary atherosclerosis, was aggra-

vated by the stress produced by sustained injuries. Cause

of death was unascertained in two cases where their

bodies were in a highly decomposed state.

5. Conclusion

More commonly, homicidal victims were Indian

males of 20–39 years of age. A majority of them came

from the semiskilled–unskilled category and were mar-

ried. Sharp cutting weapons were the most commonly

used weapons for homicide.Although the number of homicidal cases in Malaysia

is low compared to those of developed countries, this

matter should not be overlooked. As the population

and number of immigrants continue to increase, preven-

tive measures need to be taken, based on the risk factors

that had been identified. Therefore, a more comprehen-

sive and strict legislation should be amended to promote

a non-violent community.

References

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WB Saunder Co.; 2003.

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3. Commissioner of Law Revision Malaysia. Penal Code 1997 (Act

574) incorporating all amendments up to 31/3/2002. Malaysia.

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Malayan Law Journal Sdn Bhd & Percetakan Nasional Malaysia

Bhd. 2002.

4. Yearbook of Statistics Malaysia 2002. Malaysia: Department of

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5. http://www.abacci.com/atlas/demography.asp?countryID=257.

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