Spousal Murders On The Rise - Daily Guide

Nana Kesewa IIII launching the report

A FORTY-PAGE report on Spousal Murder in Ghana dubbed 'Deadly Relationships and Toxic Bonds: Spousal Murders and Rival Killings in Ghana' was on Wednesday launched in Accra with a call for a review of existing policies on gender based violence in the country.

The report which revealed the real situation of spousal murders and domestic violence in Ghana largely focused on husband-to-wife killings in Western societies and was launched by the Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC).

Giving the background to the Report on Spousal Murders in Ghana, Taniele Gofers, Communication Officer of HRAC said a review of existing policies would empower women to easily fight for their rights.

She lamented that the Women's Initiative for Self-Empowerment (WISE) suggested that one in three women in Ghana had experienced some form of violence or abuse.

According to her, investigations conducted from January 2010 to July 2012 showed 42 cases of wife-killings, five cases of husband-killings and six of rival murders.

"Within the above 53 cases, there were six cases of murder-suicide, and an additional 9 cases of murder-attempted suicide, making 15 in total for the 'murder-suicide' category. There were also six cases of multiple murders recorded during this period," she said.

She explained that many of the cases were accompanied by motives of domestic violence or abuse, infidelity, separation or ending of a relationship, refusal to re-establish a relationship or ongoing arguments.

"Our results are corroborated by recent statistics released by the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVSSU) of the Ghana Police Service report that reported that 15,495 cases of battered women in Ghana were reported in 2011," said Ms Gofers.

According to her, the figure is in comparison to only 2,474 reported incidents of battered men.

She therefore called on the police and the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs to conduct further research on the incidence of spousal murders in Ghana and initiate an intervention to reduce its incidence.

Nana Oye Lithur, Executive Directive, HRAC in a presentation on Findings of the Report on Spousal Murders noted that domestic violence had been a serious and pervasive issue in Ghana.

According to her, criminal offences for 2005 indicated that criminal offences for murder cases were 383 during the period, whilst attempted murder was 56 and manslaughter 4.

According to her, 24.5 percent of the cases reported in the media occurred in the Greater Accra region, whilst 20.8 percent occurred in the Western region. The Ashanti region recorded 17 percent and the Eastern region 15.1 percent.

"Brong Ahafo had 9.4 percent, whilst Central region reported 5.7 percent followed by Volta and Northern regions which had 3.8 percent each.

The United Nations report also indicated that seven out of 10 women were victims of physical or sexual abuse at some point in life.

The report was launched by Nana Kesewa IIII from the Nnudu Traditional Area who promised to work with her colleagues to use their position to educate women on how to fight for their rights in relationships.

 By Stella Danso Addai