Weaponry Pattern of Homicidal Deaths in District Peshawar

Abstract

Objective: To determine the weaponry pattern due to homicidal deaths in tertiary case setup . Materials & Methods: The cross-sectional descriptive study was held in Forensic Medicine Department, Khyber Medical College, Peshawar from Jan 2016 – June 2016. Out of total 537 autopsies in this department, 377 samples of homicidal deaths were taken and studied in detail. A pre-designed questionnaire with demographic details was used as research tool. SPPS v 25.0 was used as analytical tool, categorical variables were presented/tabulated in the form of frequency and percentages while numerical variables were presented in the form mean ± S.D. Results: Out of 377 autopsies, in 86.7% cases cause of death was due to firearm injury followed by sharp cutting object 6.1%, bomb blast and ligature related deaths were 3.2% and blunt trauma had only 0.8% cases. The male to female preponderance of homicidal cases is not unique one with male more dominant with 87.5% and only 12.5% female cases. The cause of death in these cases shows that maximum died due to injury to brain with 38.5% followed by Heart/Lung injury 93 (24.7%) and then injuries to other organs. Conclusion: This study concludes that homicide was the most common manner of death in Peshawar. Out of the total unnatural deaths, firearms were used in the maximum number of cases.