Abstract
Introduction About 3000 victims are referred for medico-legal examination following physical hurt to the office of the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) -General hospital Matara, every year. They include victims of physical assault, sexual assault, accidental injuries, suspects of different crimes etc. Objective Routine data pertaining to victims of alleged assault were analyzed to find out the demographic distribution of victims and to describe the medico-legal aspects of injuries. Materials and Methods All the trauma cases (2820) referred to the JMO’s office General hospital Matara, from 1 st of January 2012 to 1 st st of December 2012 was analyzed. Result Total number of trauma cases was 2820. Out of this 1381(48%) were due to alleged assaults. Sixty seven percent were males. There were 339 victims between 21-30 years and 326 victims between 31-40 years. 307 assaults had taken place between 2pm to 6pm and 510 between 6pm to 10pm. 1242 assailants were known to the victim. Among the known assailants, 231 were relatives. 1195 were blunt force injuries and 186 were sharp force injuries. The commonest form of injury was abrasion (666) and the commonest site of injury was face (521). Category of hurt was non grievous in 1023, grievous in 305, endangering life in 38 and fatal in the ordinary cause of nature in 15. Conclusions Blunt force was the commonest form of assault (86%). As expected, adults 21 to 50 years of age (67%), males (67%) were the main victims of assaults. Majority of the victims had injuries and out of that abrasion was the commonest form of injury. Most of the incidents had taken place between 2pm to 10pm (59%) and the highest between 6pm to 10pm (36%). Majority of injuries were caused by a person known to the victim (90%). Medico-Legal Journal of Sri Lanka 2014; 2(2) : 29-32
Highlights
Introduction About3000 victims are referred for medico-legal examination following physical hurt to the office of the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) -General hospital Matara, every year
Blunt force was the commonest form of assault (86%)
The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more limited sense of a threat of violence caused by an immediate show of force [1,2]
Summary
3000 victims are referred for medico-legal examination following physical hurt to the office of the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) -General hospital Matara, every year. They include victims of physical assault, sexual assault, accidental injuries, suspects of different crimes etc. Assault is a crime that involves causing a victim to apprehend violence. Assault in some US jurisdictions is defined more broadly still as any intentional physical contact with another person without their consent; but in the majority of the United States, and in England and Wales and all other common law jurisdictions in the world, this is defined instead as battery. Assault is an increasingly common cause of injury in Sri Lanka, but there have been only few previously published studies of assault victims. This retrospective study was undertaken to identify demographic and social factors, assault characteristics and injuries sustained in this population
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