Sororicides in Ghana: A Study of Homicidal Aggression Against Sisters

Abstract

Sororicide has received scarce attention in the homicide literature. This is particularly the case for sororicide incidents occurring in the nonindustrialized, non-Western world. To help address this gap in the literature and extend the study of sororicides, the current exploratory, descriptive study examined the major characteristics of 18 media-reported sororicides that occurred in Ghana from 1990 to 2017, including the sociodemographic characteristics of victims and offenders, victim–offender relationship, incident location, modus operandi, motive, and criminal justice outcomes. The results show that sororicide represents a minuscule proportion of all homicides that occur in the country annually. Brothers were overwhelmingly the perpetrators of sororicide, accounting for 17 of the 18 killings. The findings indicate that a substantial proportion of the sororicides occurred in the context of disputes over money, land, property, or inheritance. Two brothers killed sisters they suspected of maleficent witchcraft.