Gang wars blamed for rise in homicides

Cases of murder and manslaughter jumped by 33% last year, statistics show.

There were 60 such crimes in 2012, compared to 45 in 2011, according to figures from the CSO.

There has not been a higher number of such homicides since 2007, when there were 84 cases.

The jump last year is in part attributed to a rise in gangland-related killings in the first and third quarters. In the latter part of the year, violence flared between, and within, dissident republicans and crime gangs in Dublin.

AdVIC, the advocacy group for families of homicide victims, said violence was a “serious problem” for society and urged the Government to send the message out that the most serious of crimes will attract long sentences.

“A mandatory life sentence with a minimum of 25 years should be retained in cases of first-degree murder as it would clearly send out this message,” said AdVIC special adviser John O’Keeffe.

The total number of homicide cases, which includes the category of dangerous driving causing death, recorded a rise in 2012, up 18%, from 66 and 78. That figure could rise as some road fatalities are upgraded to this offence.

The number of dangerous driving causing death offences has fallen from 31 in 2010, to 21 in 2011, to 18 in 2012.

Alan Shatter, the justice minister, said the rise in homicides in the past six months of 2012 reflected “the consequences of gang warfare” and that charges were pending in a number of cases.

The CSO figures also show a 2% rise in reported sexual offences, including a 6% rise in both rapes and sexual assaults. Elsewhere:

nBurglaries “flattened out” after years of increases, with 27,774 cases (or 76 per day), with a 16% drop in aggravated burglaries;

nThefts were also unchanged at 76,549 cases, including a 37% rise in theft from the person and a 20% drop in car theft;

nRobberies dropped by 4% to 2,818, but included a 26% jump in cash-in-transit raids (39 to 49);

nAssaults, kidnappings, public order, and weapons offences were all down between 10% and 14%.

Raid foiled

An armed raider pointed what was thought to be a firearm at two unarmed gardaí yesterday as they bravely foiled a robbery.

The raider and an accomplice were tackled as they tried to flee, resulting in one of them being arrested, while the other escaped.

One of the gardaí was injured in the scuffle but not seriously and remained on duty. The arrested man was taken to Tallaght Hospital. The firearm was subsequently discovered to be an imitation weapon.

The two gardaí (male and female) were on patrol when they noticed two men jump from a car and enter an off-licence on the Ninth-Lock Rd, Clondalkin, west Dublin.

They had threatened staff and taken cash from the till when the gardaí entered.