The province’s chief medical examiner said the number of homicides here is on the rise.
There were 70 homicides in the province between 1997 and 2009.
Dr. Simon Avis made the comments Friday at the annual conference of the Newfoundland and Labrador Society for Medical Laboratory Science.
He stressed that while 70 homicides may seem like a lot, Newfoundland is still an extremely safe place.
“For a forensic pathologist, Newfoundland is a boring place if you’re interested in murder and mayhem,” he said.
“Newfoundland still has the lowest homicide rate in North America, and probably the civilized world.”
In his speech, Avis also said he believes there have perhaps been two serial killers in this province.
One of them, he said, is behind bars in the province’s prison system.
“I’m fairly sure we’ve had one, and I think we may have had two serial killers in the province,” Avis said. “One of them is in prison and is probably going to get out at some point and I think he is a particularly dangerous individual.”
He did not elaborate on who he believed the killer to be.
When it comes to the 70 homicides statistic, Avis was careful to make a distinction between a homicide and a murder.
Homicide is a medical term referring to one person deliberately performing an action that kills another person.
Murder is a legal term implying that the killer is legally culpable.
Much of his speech focused on the technical characteristics of different kinds of homicides, including troubling statistics on the rise in infant homicide.
“For a forensic pathologist, Newfoundland is a boring place if you’re interested in murder and mayhem." - Dr. Simon Avis
“We have 10 homicides under 15 years of age, which is something we didn’t see in the last study, and eight of those are infants,” he said. “It’s interesting that in places like the United States where they say homicide rates are declining … they say child homicide rates are increasing.”
Avis also said that in the study period, there were three organized crime murders, but the most common killer is still domestic violence.
“You are more likely to be killed by someone you know and love than someone you don’t know and don’t care for,” he said.
Avis attributed many of the changing trends to oil money and increased prosperity — the organized crime killings were believed to be drug-related.
He said there was troubling evidence that sort of thing was happening a fair bit on the west coast of Newfoundland.
“That’s a fair number for such a small place like Stephenville,” Avis said, noting that there have been nine homicides there in 12 years. “Something we’re going to have to look at in great detail is the number of illicit drug deaths coming from the west coast.
“A number of them are actually originating in Stephenville, so we’re going to be looking closer at Stephenville, I’d expect.
Avis said the safest place in the province to live is the Northern Peninsula. There was only one homicide there in the 12 years studied.
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I agree. I am always amazed at the attention marijuana busting seems to get. How about the street drugs that matter...like the fact that cocaine use in NL is so prevalent -- especially among NL's upper class, government workers, and medical professionals. Not to mention the rise in heroin on the island. I mean seriously, smoking pot is actually less dangerous for you then smoking a cigarette or drinking alcohol, and actually has MANY benefits for individuals suffering from glaucoma, depression, anxiety, multiple sclerosis, parkinsons disease, cancer, nausea, anorexia....and the list goes on. It's time the feds focus on what is really important.