🔗 Share this article

Every suicide where the victim had endured abuse at home should be treated as a potential murder case, according to calls from advocates who aim to hold abusers accountable for the catastrophic impact of their actions.

This move is essential because law enforcement are failing to hold offenders to justice in cases of self-inflicted death after family violence.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the legal system, to examine these deaths with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a co-director of a advocacy organization at a significant meeting in London earlier this week.

The assembly, arranged by a group running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to fight for reform in the legal framework, united families who had lost loved ones to suicide after domestic abuse.

Individual Accounts of Loss

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Before her death, Chloe had reported her former partner to police, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

Following her passing, the individual was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for 41 months. He was subsequently sentenced for an additional term after a second woman came forward to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent chose to advocate for a legal change to hold offenders to justice; however she then realized that laws were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it was not a new law I needed as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my child had been failed previous to her taking her life by the authorities and many other agencies, they needed to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she said.

“Over 47 families have found me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been battling the police and prosecution service for a long time and getting no justice for their offspring or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it affected inquiries that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter died in spring 2017, in what she called “the ultimate abusive action” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was energetic, she was loving,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, really loving mother to her kids, and she took her own life after 24 months in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her companion,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and broken down gradually until she could not see a path ahead. The man who caused this walked free, because we label it suicide, we conclude the case and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to move on. In truth, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, when I begged them to investigate what he had done to her, I was informed that there was no action that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, required five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined death by suicide, despite huge evidence over a extremely distressing four day period of domestic abuse and failings by multiple services.”

The parent informed the gathering that for eight years she has “struggled against a system that refuses to see what is obvious”.

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder movement was vital “because when someone dies by suicide after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to examine it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We must use the legislation we currently have properly and it really isn’t happening at the moment, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need judges to understand that words and control can cause death just as much as physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, led by a opposition politician, and including the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often written off as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, in truth, these were the result of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Particularly around murder or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, given the society we inhabit today.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to resolve. It is incredibly complex and difficult, particularly when you consider the matter of homicide, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the legal body commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other manipulative conduct.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for causing the death of a companion they abused, including in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other parties to ensure these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”