Random killing alarm

More homicide despite more tracking tools

THE number of random killings in Australia has risen to a 15-year high.

Statistics from the Australian Institute of Criminology show murders carried out by killers whose victims are not known to them has risen 35 per cent on the previous year.

The overall homicide rate is up 16 per cent, the AIC found.

There were 261 homicides in 2019-20, up by 37 on the year before – the most murders since 2005. Overall, there were 278 victims, an increase of 38.

In 36 of 45 intimate partner homicides the victims were women.

Researchers believe the inclusion of cases of driving causing death, where the perpetrator was charged with murder or manslaughter, could account for some of the increase in random killings – but not all.

Acquaintance homicide, where the victim is known to the killer but is not related, is down slightly, though at 32 per cent is still the leading cause of murder in Australia. Domestic killings account for 31 per cent, while random killings comprised 18 per cent. There was no known relationship between victim and perpetrator in the remaining cases.

Stabbing was the primary cause of death (37 per cent), followed by blunt force trauma (19 per cent) and firearms (13 per cent). Other Australian victims died by strangulation, were run down by vehicles, poisoned or burned. Of the 278 victims, 65 per cent were male and 35 per cent female.

Thirty-four of the victims were aged under 17, 20 boys and 14 girls. Ten victims were under the age of one.

Of the 241 adult victims, 67 per cent were men. Most killers (87 per cent) were male.

Former NSW detective inspector Gary Jubelin, who spent 25 years in homicide, said it was much harder to get away with murder now.

“We’re all being tracked, with CCTV, electronic data on your phone … 20 years ago we could (only) check someone’s home to see who they called,” Mr Jubelin said.

Ken Marslew, whose son Michael was murdered in 1994 during a Pizza Hut robbery in the Sydney suburb of Jannali, said he was disappointed that the crime figures had risen.

“The murder of someone like Michael goes through the community,” Mr Marslew said.

He said he set up the Enough is Enough Anti Violence Movement to help people move on.

One of Michael’s killers has participated in the program.

“Michael never had a choice. I’ve got a choice … have I forgiven? No, but I have let go of the hate,” he said.