CSO: Homicide occurred every five days last year

A homicide occurred, on average, every five days in Ireland last year, according to CSO figures.

The recorded crime statistics for 2016 show 71 people died as a result of murder, manslaughter or dangerous driving by another person last year — up 12.7% on 2015.

There was a significant rise in the numbers of those murdered in 2016, with 38 such crimes taking place last year. It was a one-third increase on the 2015 figure.

Meanwhile, there was an 8.6% rise in the number of sexual offences, with increases in the numbers of rapes, defilements of minors, and sexual assaults.

Also notable was the sharp rise in the number of cases of child neglect, abandonment, and cruelty. The 261 cases recorded last year represented a 56.3% increase.

The CSO said the number of burglaries dropped significantly, with 7,823 fewer such offences taking place in 2016. A total of 26,261 burglaries were recorded in 2015, leading to a decrease of 29.8%.

The figures were also broken down by Garda region, revealing the greatest rise in homicides had been in the western and south-eastern areas which each experienced seven such offences compared to four in 2015.

More than half (53%) of the 64,981 thefts and related offences took place in the Dublin Metropolitan area. The CSO noted the continuing controversy surrounding the prosecution of traffic offences by gardaí.

“As the CSO publishes a small element of traffic-related incidents in the quarterly Recorded Crime series, the CSO requested data on the 148,000 offences to establish whether any of these offences had been incorrectly included in the quarterly recorded crime data as additional incidents,” the CSO said.

“An Garda Síochána provided the details of the 148,000 offences and the CSO have determined that these offences do not appear to have affected the quarterly Recorded Crime series.”