Femicide in early adolescence: The potential role of girl-child marriage as a risk factor

To the Editor

Girl-child marriage is a severe form of human rights violation, corresponding to the formal or informal union in which a girl younger than 18 years lives with a partner as if married (Efevbera and Bhabha, 2020; UNICEF, 2019). The countries with the highest prevalence of girl-child marriage are located in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia; nonetheless, in Brazil, approximately 26% of women marry before the age of 18 years, with the union being informal in most cases (Efevbera and Bhabha, 2020; UNICEF, 2019). The affected girls are commonly vulnerable individuals, having less education, living in rural areas and coming from poor families; in some estimates, more than 80% of the child brides give birth before the age of 20 years, and around 20% are married to men at least 10 years older (Efevbera and Bhabha, 2020; UNICEF, 2019).

Here we report a case of a White 13-year-old female, stabbed to death 24 times in the torso and limbs by her partner, at the time a 25-year-old man, with prior criminal history, who mentioned jealousy as the motivation of the crime. At the time of the homicide, she was in a civil partnership for a prolonged but nor informed period of time, living with her partner in his mother’s house. The crime took place at their home, 6 days after her 13th birthday. Autopsy procedures revealed that her death was secondary to mass bleeding due to the stab wounds. Toxicological analysis of the victim revealed an absence of alcohol or other illicit substances. There were no prior police reports regarding any form of violence towards her. Psychological autopsy revealed that at the age of 6 years, the victim had witnessed domestic violence against her mother perpetrated by her father. Her father had history of alcohol use disorder, conduct problems including theft, mistreatment of animals and attempted murder. The data presented here were obtained from police and medicolegal reports and were approved for use by a local research ethics committee, as part of a larger project.

There is evidence for an association between girl-child marriage and intimate partner violence (Ahinkorah et al., 2021). Although there is little direct evidence on femicide, as illustrated in the case, it may be an extreme outcome of girl-child marriage, with this being a frequently overlooked factor in femicide cases. Health professionals may even have an opportunity for the prevention of violence by assessing the safety and well-being of children in these situations.