Homicidal deaths In Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

A retrospective study was carried out on 125 homicide victims autopsied from 2006 to 2010 at the Forensic Medicine Center in Dammam Saudi Arabia. Dammam is the largest city in the Eastern Province in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). It is a thriving modern economic hub and hosts the largest oil company in the world. The Forensic Medicine Center in Dammam covers most of the cities in this province, which has a population of around two million. The aim of this study is to provide a database representing injury mortality in Dammam and to establish a system that will record information about homicidal deaths, identify new trends and give priority to violence prevention.Of these cases, 104 (83.2%) were males and 21 (16.8%) were females, and in 97 cases (77.6%) the victims were between the ages of 21 and 50years.Local Saudi nationals comprised the maximum proportion of victims (46.4%), followed by Indian (22.6%) and Bangladeshi (19.8%). Most of the homicides occurred during daytime (80.1%), and summer was the most common season among the homicides. Among this sample, the most common type of injury was caused by blunt force (35.2%), followed by sharp force (34.4%), and firearms (25.6%). Injuries were inflicted to the chest in 29.6% of cases and to the head in 26.4% of cases.Most of the cases (98.3%) were caused by a single offender, whereas multiple offenders were accused in the remainder. Only in 31% of cases was the victim hospitalized. Postmortem blood alcohol was found in 8%, amphetamine in 3%, and opiates in 2.1% of the victims.