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MWANGI: Drug use could trigger femicide cases

Either the culprits are serious drug users or use drugs to deflect the attention of investigative agencies.

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by Josephine Mayuya

Opinion05 February 2024 - 03:15
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In Summary


  • The bottom line, there is a very strong indication that drugs are at the centre of some of these horrifying and atrocious acts.
  • The recent happenings present an opportunity for scientific study into the mental health status of the persons carrying out the gruesome homicides

The recent femicide cases in the country have shocked all and sundry, but the most outstanding issue in most of them is that there have been reports of either alcohol or drugs being found at the scene of the horrendous atrocities.

The United Nations Women highlights femicide as gender-related killings that are the most brutal and extreme manifestation of violence against women and girls. 

Drug abuse is a key contributing factor to violence against women. Men who abuse drugs are more likely to be violent against their spouses, wives and girl children and this may involve not only sexual but also physical and psychological violence. In the worst case scenarios, it leads to deaths like it has been witnessed in Kenya lately.

Various theories have been advanced as to the reasons behind the macabre killings, some of which point to extremely bizarre and gory activities. No human being in their right frame of mind can carry out such cold-hearted acts of violence, although this argument does not in any way also imply that the killers were necessarily on drugs. Truth is, something is fundamentally wrong with such people.

Research indicates that up to seventy-five percent of individuals who begin treatment for a substance use disorder report having engaged in physical assault, mugging, using a weapon to attack another person and other violent crimes.

In many cases, only gender-related killings perpetrated by an intimate partner or family member are counted as femicides. However, gender-related killings indeed take place in several settings beyond the private sphere.

They can be related to rape or sexual violence by a stranger to the victim, linked to harmful practices such as female genital mutilation or so-called honour killings, result from hate crimes linked to sexual orientation or gender identity, or even connected with armed conflict, gangs, human trafficking and other forms of organised crime.

Identification of risk factors specific to intimate partner femicide is of great significance, as it allows the likelihood to predict and recognise individuals at risk of greatest harm.

A study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and UN Women released in November 2022 shows that, on average, more than five women or girls were killed every hour by someone in their own family in 2021. 

Women with substance abuse problems on the other hand have usually experienced more violence as children and continue to experience more violence as adults when compared to women who do not have substance abuse problems.

The Kenyan murders have exposed a worrying trend where either the culprits are serious drug users or use drugs to deflect the attention of investigative agencies, and the public, by leaving them at the scenes of crime. The bottom line, there is a very strong indication that drugs are at the centre of some of these horrifying and atrocious acts.

There is also a possibility that men are suffering the same fate and the fact that society has stereotyped them to submission, most of the cases go unreported. It is also possible that even when they are, the families of the victims prefer to keep the issues under wraps for fear of stigmatisation.

One area of research, particularly in need of further scrutiny, is to what degree perpetrators of intimate partner femicide suffer from mental health conditions, and what the medical features are. It has been estimated that approximately one in four women worldwide have been exposed to intimate partner violence.

The recent happenings present an opportunity for scientific study into the mental health status of the persons carrying out the gruesome homicides as well as heightened awareness to the most vulnerable populations.

This can be for both young girls and boys as well as the authorities on how to establish early warning systems that will assist in the detection and prevention of such happenings. 

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