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Each self-inflicted death in which the victim had endured abuse at home should be considered a possible murder case, as per calls from advocates who seek to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating consequences of their behavior.

This step is essential because law enforcement are failing to bring perpetrators accountable in instances of self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they deserve,” stated a co-director of a advocacy organization during a landmark gathering in Westminster recently.

The assembly, organized by a group running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for change in the criminal justice system, united relatives who had suffered bereavement to suicide after family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Before her death, the young woman had informed her ex-boyfriend to police, providing a two-hour video interview as evidence against him.

After her death, the individual was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for over three years. He was later jailed for an additional term after a second woman stepped up 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 new law to bring perpetrators to justice; however she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it was not a new law I needed as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my daughter had been let down before her taking her life by the police and many other agencies, they needed to fulfill their duties, and practices required reform,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been fighting the authorities and prosecution service for years and getting no justice for their child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it impacted inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

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

“She was energetic, she was caring,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, really loving mother to her kids, and she took her own life after two years in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her companion,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and broken down gradually until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The man who caused this walked free, because we label it suicide, we close the file and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to move on. In truth, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I begged them to look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was told that there was nothing that they could do.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic homicide review, which I had to struggle to obtain, took five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined death by suicide, notwithstanding substantial proof over a extremely distressing multi-day session of family violence and shortcomings by various agencies.”

The parent told the meeting that for a decade she has “struggled against a establishment that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide campaign was critical “since when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve suffered family violence, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is murder.

“We must apply the laws we already possess effectively and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for driving their victims to death.

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need judges to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill just as much as physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, chaired by a opposition politician, and attended by the government official, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their own choice, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the result of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these are not isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Especially around murder or unlawful killing, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is outdated, honestly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to resolve. It is extremely complicated and difficult, especially when you look at the issue of murder, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the prosecution service commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to consider homicide allegations in self-inflicted death instances where there is a known context of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for causing the death of a companion they abused, encompassing in cases which are ongoing.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other stakeholders to guarantee these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”