When a Wife Says “No”: Wife Sexual Refusal as a Factor in Husband–Wife Homicides in Ghana

Introduction

Uxoricide, or the slaying of a woman by her husband, has garnered considerable scholarship by homicide scholars and other social and behavioral scientists. This is evidenced by the prodigious literature that has accumulated on the subject (e.g., Adams, 2007; Adinkrah, 1999, 2008a; Bean, 1992; Brewer & Paulsen, 1999; Daly & Wilson, 1988; Daly, Wiseman, & Wilson, 1997; Dobash & Dobash, 2015; Parker, Steeves, Anderson, & Moran, 2004; Steeves & Parker, 2007; Websdale, 2010; Wilson & Daly, 1998; Wilson, Daly, & Wright, 1993). To date, extant research on the subject has explored several issues, including characteristics of assailants and victims, method of offense perpetration, spatial and temporal features, precipitating circumstances and motivations, and criminal justice outcomes.

Although a great deal is currently known about husband-to-wife slayings, only a small number of studies in the extant literature have examined the direct precipitants in uxoricides. While uxoricide researchers have identified such broad factors as patriarchy, wifely infidelity, husbands’ proprietary behavior, estrangement, and threat of relationship termination as motivating aspects (Browne, Williams, & Dutton, 1999; Daly & Wilson, 1988), very few researchers have explored specific factors internal to the connubial relationship that can lead to uxoricide, such as wives seeking divorce or separation from their husbands. Similarly, researchers have not adequately explored the reasons that drive husbands to make accusations of infidelity against their wives—another factor that makes wives vulnerable to partner lethal victimization. The identification and study of triggering factors in uxoricidal murders require additional research. These associated factors may include perceived challenges to male control in marriage, sexual refusal, or a range of other factors. In the present study, we examine one recurrent trigger in the narratives of husband–wife slayings in Ghana—wife refusal of sexual intercourse with her husband. To the best of this author’s knowledge, no study in Ghana has systematically explored the issue of wife sexual refusal in conjugal relationships nor the impact of sexual refusal on violence against women. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to systematically examine the 25 media-reported husband-perpetrated homicides and attempted homicides against wives that were ascribed to wifely sexual refusal that occurred during 1990 to 2016. Among the issues considered are the sociodemographic characteristics of perpetrators and victims, modus-operandi, temporal and spatial aspects, immediate contextual factors, as well as the police-reported reasons for the crimes. Criminal justice processing of assailants and the dispositional outcomes of the cases were also examined. The article is organized as follows. It begins with a brief discussion of Ghanaian family structure. This is followed by a description of Ghanaian sexual norms in conjugal relationships. Then, we describe the methodology and data sources used in this study. Next is a presentation of the results of the study. Finally, the article discusses the implications of the research findings.

Background of the Study

While conducting research into married-partner homicides and attempted homicides in Ghana a few years ago, this author became alarmed by the substantial number of cases in which a wife’s refusal to engage in husband-initiated sexual intercourse was the reported precipitant in assaultive violence against the wife, including uxoricide. As the accompanying citations reveal, during the past decade, the Ghanaian mass media have reported several cases of uxoricides and attempted homicides in which husbands killed or grievously injured wives who refused to have sex with them (“Husband Shoots Wife for Denying Him Sex,” 2006; “Man, 57, Kills Wife Over Sex, 2017”; “Man Attempted Poisoning Wife Over Sex,” 2015; “Man Beats Wife to Death Over Sex,” 2015; “Man Butchers Wife Over Denied Sex,” 2006; “Man Kills Wife for Denying Him Sex,” 2004; “Man Strangles Wife Over Sex,” 2014; “Sex-Starved Man Kills In-Laws,” 2007; “Sex-Starved Man Shoots Wife,” 2016; “Teacher Poisons Wife Over Sex,” 2015; “Man ‘On Heat’ Shoots Girlfriend’s Vagina,” 2016). In July 2013 alone, the media reported three uxoricides in which husbands brutally killed wives who refused to have sexual intercourse. The murders sparked intense public outrage, engendered substantial media coverage, and provoked widespread public discussion, prompting the Gender and Children’s Ministry to issue a statement denouncing the killings and bemoaning the spate of assaultive violence against women in the country (“Spousal Murders in Ghana Worrying,” 2013).

A meticulous review of media reports revealed that in each case, the husband assaulted his wife over her purported refusal to have sexual intercourse with him. Given the tragic nature of uxoricides and the repercussions of the crime on surviving relatives, including children of the marital couple, there was a consensus in Ghana that the issue be comprehensively examined and possible remedies sought. Currently, spousal murders are among the most widely discussed crimes in Ghana (Adinkrah, 2014a, 2014b). During the past 5 years, there have been persistent calls that systematic studies of uxoricide be intensified to identify potential risk and protective factors (“Spousal Murder: Gender Activists Call for Women’s Protection,” 2013). Although the cases cited above generated massive public outrage and public discussion, to date, systematic studies to understand the patterns, causes, and dynamics of these murders and to offer suggestions to stem such crimes are limited. The result is that the violence continues unabated, and public outrage continues to trail each new reported incident.

Wife Sexual Refusal and Violence Against Women

There is consensus in the scholarly literature that wife sexual refusal is a major factor in wife battery and other forms of violence against women globally (Abrahams, Jewkes, Hoffman, & Laubscher, 2004; Chaudhry, 2013; Hudson, Ballif-Spanvill, Caprioli, & Emmett, 2012; Oheneba-Sakyi, 1999). In many societies, the existence of a marital exemption rule and cultural beliefs and practices combine to deny married women the right to refuse sexual intercourse with their husbands. In many cases, contravention of these norms results in lethal violence or the infliction of aggravated bodily injuries against the noncompliant wife. Media reports around the world frequently document the role of wifely refusal of sex in triggering male aggression. In the United States, the Miami Herald newspaper featured a report in which 76-year-old man in Florida was charged with second-degree aggravated battery. The charges were based on a shooting incident in which a husband shot his 62-year-old wife in the buttocks for refusing to have sex with him (“They Argued Over Sex,” 2017). In January 2017, Free Malaysia Today, an independent news portal with a focus on Malaysia current affairs, carried a story in which a 50-year-old man fatally stabbed his 38-year-old wife with a 2-foot-long samurai sword for refusing to have sex with him. The couple had been married for 25 years and had eight children (“Police Hunt Man,” 2017). In the case of Uganda, in February 2015, the Daily Monitor newspaper carried a story in which Uganda’s cabinet minister for Gender and Social Issues advised Ugandan wives not to deny their husbands sex, asserting that “denying men sex is a cause of most killings in homes.” Her comments were in response to a case where a husband hacked his wife to death over her refusal to submit to his sexual demands (Aruho, 2015). In Nigeria, in January 2017, The Vanguard newspaper reported an uxoricide case in Nigeria in which a 26-year-old husband lethally assaulted his 20-year-old wife over her refusal to have sex with him. He strangled her while forcefully attempting to have his way (“26-Year-Old Man Kills Wife,” 2017). In February 2017, Ghanaweb.com reported an uxoricide case in Ghana in which a 57-year-old husband committed suicide after killing his 47-year-old wife. The man returned home at night in a drunken state and approached his wife to have sex. When she refused, citing his drunken condition, he shot her to death before fatally shooting himself (“Man 57, Kills Wife Over Sex,” 2017).

Family Life and Inter-Spousal Relations in Ghana

In Ghana, a marital relationship commences with a formal payment of a brideprice to the bride’s family (Assimeng, 1981; Offei, 2014). The brideprice can range from cash to the transfer of substantial material goods, including cattle, jewelry, and cloth to the bride and her family. As will be expatiated on later, many men in Ghana regard the brideprice in marriage as an act of purchase entitling them to the wife’s services, including sex on demand. Although marriage based on romantic love has gained widespread acceptance in recent years, early, arranged, and forced marriages are also commonplace (Andoh, 2015; Ardayfio, 2015; Awaf, 2016; Gender Desk, 2014; Gyesi, 2016b; Kwei, 2014). The local media have recurrently reported forced or arranged marriages between men in their 40s and 50s and girls as young as 9 years (2015; “Man Held for Marrying a 16-Year Old Girl,” 2011). Although this practice has been vehemently condemned by child advocates and other child welfare professionals, the practice persists (Iversen & Nyoni, 2014; Quaicoe-Duho, 2013). Relatedly, gerontogamy, or marriage where one of the spouses is elderly and significantly older than the other partner, occurs frequently. These are typically unions between a much older man and a younger woman, or in some cases, a child. The extant literature suggests that gerontogamous marriages are relatively unstable and are unvaryingly associated with significant marital disharmony between the spouses (Daly & Wilson, 1988).

Polygyny, or marriage between a man and multiple wives, is approved by every ethnic group in Ghana. In 2014, 16% of currently married women and 7% of currently married men aged 15 to 49 years were in polygynous unions. Concurrently, 13% of women aged 15 to 49 years had one co-wife while 2% had two or more co-wives. Polygynous marriage is more prevalent in rural areas and is associated with both low income and low educational attainment (Ghana Statistical Service, 2015). Abundant evidence suggests that polygyny is a source of considerable friction between co-wives, as well as between husbands and wives (“Woman Pours Hot Soup on Rival,” 2004; “Woman Slashes Rival’s Face With Blade,” 2012). In recent years, there has been mounting opposition to polygyny from women while women’s groups have also launched campaigns criticizing the practice (“One Man, One Wife,” 2005). Today, many women refuse to become co-wives, resisting marriage to an already married man. Anecdotal evidence reveals that many women who suspect their husbands of having extramarital affairs or of courting other women use sex refusal to punish the husband. Some women have reportedly even killed husbands who refused to yield to the wife’s demand that he avoid taking another wife (Adinkrah, 2007).

Although there have been societal changes in attitudes in the last decade, the average Ghanaian family household unit consists of a dominant husband as breadwinner and an economically dependent wife. Several Ghanaian proverbs describe the rewards to be gained by a wife for normative compliance to a husband’s dictates. A familiar Akan adage is illustrative: Di wo kunu ni na w’awo abaayewa (Honor your husband so you would be blessed with a daughter). In a matrilineal Akan society where giving birth to daughters is essential for the continuity of one’s matrilineage, the promise of a daughter is considered the ultimate reward for obeying one’s husband. There is a common perception among the male population that wives should serve a husband’s needs (Quaicoe-Duho, 2013). Regarding division of labor in the domestic realm, husbands are considered the economic providers, even where the wife maintains regular employment outside the home and even provides the bulk of family income. In most homes, the wife is still responsible for domestic chores—for example, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and child care—regardless of her employment status.

Assaultive violence against women by intimate partners is common in Ghana (Adjei, 2015). Alarmingly high rates of physical assaults against women are reported annually. In one study, it was reported that nearly one in three women is a victim of wife battery (Coker-Appiah & Cusack, 1999). Reasons for wife battery include suspicion that the wife is involved in an extramarital affair, wife’s threat to divorce the husband, and refusal to have sexual intercourse with the husband. Many incidents of intimate partner assaults go unreported to the authorities because victims and witnesses consider them private matters within families as well as the male partners’ prerogative to assert authority and control in their households. Although male aggression against women in marital and nonmarital relationships is commonplace, there is a noticeable absence of services, such as domestic violence crisis lines, legal and financial aid, and shelter facilities, for women experiencing partner aggression. Those who take refuge in their natal homes risk being pursued and killed by the partner (Adinkrah, 2014b). In October 1998, the Ghana Police Service established the Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU), now the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), within the police force and whose charge includes helping to combat escalating rates of lethal and nonlethal aggression in intimate relationships. DOVVSU currently apprehends and prosecutes both men and women who perpetrate violence against a marital or dating partner.

Among all ethnic groups in the country, divorce is disapproved and disparaged (Kubi, 1999). There is mounting evidence, however, that marital unions are much more easily terminated now compared with a decade ago and that marital separations and abandonments have become increasingly frequent. Among Akans, all available conciliatory options must be explored to keep the connubial relationship intact. It is only after protracted disputation and utter failure to unite the couple that the marriage will be annulled. Even then, the ancestral spirits must be informed of this annulment through the enactment of appropriate religious rituals. Currently, the stigma of divorce falls more heavily on females than males; it is also more difficult for female divorcees to remarry than it is for male divorcees.

Sexual Relations in Matrimony

For this study, it is important to examine the normative sexual expectations associated with marriage in Ghana. Catering to a husband’s needs is considered one of the bride’s primary wifely duties in Ghanaian society. Satisfying a husband’s sexual desires is considered one among these duties. Prospective brides are cautioned to never refuse their husbands’ sexual demands regardless of their personal feelings. They are told that a man’s sexual desire is like a raging bull that must be satisfied. They are warned that men become, and act dangerously, when they are refused sex and may pursue extramarital sex. Assimeng (1981) underscores the importance of anticipatory socialization toward sexual responsibility for Akan girls among kin: “She is instructed in the nuances of marital life, the care of children, and in how to look after one’s husband and his relatives, and so on. The type of schooling appertaining to puberty rites is usually performed by an elderly, experienced woman” (p. 73).

In Ghana, as elsewhere, sexual conflict afflicts many conjugal and nonconnubial sexual relationships. Such conflicts often lead to relational separation, verbal and psychological abuse, physical assault, and even death (Dwamena-Aboagye, 2004). In Ghana, many men perceive payment of the brideprice to mean that they are entitled to have sexual relations with their wives at will. For these men, deep-seated hostility develops when the wife refuses sexual intercourse. It is the belief that the pervasive cultural notion that sex is a man’s right in marriage led to the removal of a marital rape clause in the country’s Domestic Violence Bill prior to its passage into law (Adinkrah, 2011; Anyemedu, Tenkorang, & Dold, 2017).

It is widely believed that some women use sex as a bargaining weapon in their marriage, denying sex to husbands who do not accede to certain demands, withholding sex from husbands who, for example, refuse to buy them clothes, jewelry, and other luxuries (“Wife Grabs,” 2012). It is prevalently believed that some aggrieved wives who intend to punish their husbands for not honoring their demands or who renege on a promise of perceived responsibility wear khaki shorts or trousers to bed at night to prevent husbands from having sex with them while they are asleep. In many Ghanaian marriages, the donning of shorts to bed by a woman signals sexual refusal. According to one marriage counselor who has a popular column in a Ghanaian weekly newspaper,

Some women use the denial of sex to punish, reject and frustrate their men. They withhold sex to get even or make unrealistic demands; “get me cloth, mobile phone or money or no sex for you.” Some women, to ensure their men do not rape them or “sneak in” while they are asleep, sleep in khaki trousers. Some even wear khaki shorts on top to ensure that no amount of “sesame” can open the “cave.” (Boakye, 2015, p. 31)

Relatedly, some wives are believed to deliberately refrain from bathing in the evening if they want to avoid sex at night since bathing before bed is considered a prelude to sex. Other wives who are dissatisfied with their husbands’ behaviors resort to any one or a combination of the following behaviors—refusal to prepare dinner and other meals for him, refusal to launder his clothes, refusal to speak to him, lodge a formal complaint to his or her relatives about his behavior.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that women who refuse to have sexual intercourse with husbands are financially neglected; they are denied “chop money” and other provisions for their material upkeep. In addition, some aggrieved husbands refuse to pay their children’s school fees and even the bills for their sick children when refused sex by their wives (“Every Man Wants Sexual Satisfaction,” 2016). Women who refuse sex are also physically chastised, sometimes suffering severe injuries, and undergo emotional trauma when assaulted by their enraged husbands. Some men who repeatedly experience sexual refusal interpret the wife’s sexual refusal as a sign that the wife is secretly receiving sexual gratification with an illicit paramour. These suspicions of infidelity often trigger greater violence against the wife.

In a Ghanaian study that asked respondents whether they believed a wife has a right to refuse sex with her husband within marriage, an estimated 80% of couples surveyed agreed while about 20% said wives did not have marital rights to refuse sex on any occasion. Interestingly, a greater percentage of husbands than wives responded affirmatively to the statement that wives have a right to decline sexual relations within marriage. In addition, a greater percentage of urban residents than rural residents agreed as did professionals and respondents with more years of formal education. The same study indicated that greater percentages of Protestants, Catholics, and persons affiliated with other religions approved of a wife’s marital right to refuse unwanted sex compared with subscribers of traditional Ghanaian religion. Marital partners who selected their own partners believed in a wife’s refusal for sex compared with those in arranged marriages. Many respondents agreed that a wife should be permitted to refuse sexual intercourse with a husband under certain conditions, for example, if a woman is menstruating, ill, or suffers from a physical defect that makes sexual intercourse difficult (Oheneba-Sakyi, 1999). Under Ghanaian law, one partner’s persistent refusal to have sexual intercourse with the other spouse is grounds for marital dissolution.

Marital Rape and Discourse on Wife Sexual Refusal in Ghana

Nonconsensual sex with a spouse does not constitute “rape” ¹ under Ghana’s penal code (Adinkrah, 2011; Twumasi, 1985). Under the marital exemption rule, a man can have sexual intercourse with his wife against her will without being charged with “rape” although he could be charged with the lesser offense of “assault and battery.” ² Eminent Ghanaian jurist, P. K. Twumasi (1985) notes with regard to the provisions of section 42(g) of the Ghana Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29),

This provision lays down a general proposition that a husband cannot be guilty of rape upon his wife because, by their voluntary coming together by law as man and wife, they are deemed to have accepted the legal incidence of such a contract, namely, the right of the husband to have sexual intercourse with his wife and the latter’s consent to the exercise of such right by her husband which she cannot revoke extrajudicially. During the subsistence of their marriage, therefore, the wife cannot raise any complaint in respect of sexual intercourse against the husband except, of course, the act is unnatural. (p.282)

Current attitudes reveal that in Ghana, just as many men as women object to the criminalization of nonconsensual sex within marriage (Adinkrah, 2011). Many believe that a wife should submit to the sexual demands of her husband even if she is not interested in sex (Adinkrah, 2011; Oheneba-Sakyi, 1999). Anecdotal evidence suggests that instances of coerced sexual intercourse in marriage are legion (Adinkrah, 2011; Dwamena-Aboagye, 2004). Research suggests that nonconsensual sex is not an isolated incident in marriages characterized by sexual violence. Neither is coerced sex and sexual violence about sexual desire or fulfillment. Men who engage in nonconsensual sex often use coercive sexual acts to dominate and control their wives. In addition, many incidents of nonconsensual sex violence within marriage often goes unreported. There are several reasons why these acts are not reported to the police. First, women are socialized to believe that satisfying a husband’s sexual desire is part of the wife’s marital obligations. This discourages the reportage of experiences of forced sex to police. Second, a sizable percentage of Ghanaian wives are dependent, in whole or in part, on the husband’s economic earnings. Reportage of incidents of coercive sex that leads to the prosecution, conviction, and incarceration of the husband would mean she would be deprived of financial support for herself and her children (Adinkrah, 2011). Ghana currently does not have social programs to support indigent families.

The extent to which wives’ sexual refusal is a feature of Ghanaian marriages and a source of connubial disharmony is unknown. However, a review of local media sources yielded several news stories in which Ghanaian women were advised to refrain from denying their husbands sex (“Sex in a Relationship,” 2017; Sexual Right of Couples,” 2014; “Wives Insisting on Consent,” 2016). In August 2016, a Ghanaian pastor and marriage counselor advised Ghanaian women to avoid sexual refusal of their husbands, cautioning it could lead to relationship breakdowns. He attributed a sizable proportion of marital disharmony in Ghanaian homes to sexual issues, saying, “every man wants sexual satisfaction from his wife so women who have been using sex as a form of punishment for their husbands should cease because it has the tendency to ruin their marriages.” According to the pastor, a high percentage of Ghanaian men who were derelict in their responsibilities toward their wives and children did so out of revenge for wife sexual refusal. Addressing a Women’s Bible Camp, the pastor implored the women:

Under no circumstance should a woman deny her husband sex but when the need arises, women should always find a nice way of communicating that to their spouse to understand and not just refuse them. As a woman, once you serve your husband supper, it is important to make him happy in bed. Lingerie and nighties are a “No! No!” for a married woman when going to bed. You should be naked and not feel shy before your husband. (“Every Man Wants Sexual Satisfaction,” 2016)

In October 2006, the Eastern Regional Commander of DOVVSU rebuked married partners who manipulated their partners through sex refusal, asserting that denying one’s partner sex was tantamount to “torturing the affected partner” (Spouses Advised,” 2006). She was speaking at a symposium organized to mark the United Nations Day Against Torture. In July 2010, a Head Pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church echoed a similar message when he addressed thousands of Ghanaian and other participants at an international seminar to climax a Beauty and Bridal Fair. He “warned women to desist from using sex as a weapon against their husbands.” As a corollary, he advised husbands to “show respect to their wives during sexual intercourse” and to, among other things, debunk “the misconstrued belief that sex is to be endured by women and enjoyed by men” (Mensah, 2010). In November 2016, a senior female official of Ghana’s National Commission for Civic Education urged wives of military and law enforcement personnel to “satisfy their husbands very well in bed to enable them [to] work effectively during the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections” (“Give Your Husbands Good Sex,” 2016). In elaborating on the issue, she “called on wives to fondle, kiss and trigger sensual conversations that will stimulate great spirits so they [the husbands] will avoid partiality in the discharge of their duties” (p. 1).

The foregoing discussion suggests that wife sexual refusal is a key factor in husband-to-wife aggression in many societies. Focusing on Ghana, the discussion demonstrates that there is a general expectation within Ghanaian marital norms that wives occasionally accept sex with their husbands even at the expense of their personal comfort. The ensuing sections of the article will provide a description of 25 homicides and attempted homicides committed by husbands against wives who rebuffed their sexual overtures. Some of the issues described are offender attributes, victim characteristics, physical locations of the crimes, the time of day, the method of offense perpetration, and the circumstances under which they occurred. Given the exploratory nature of the study, no hypotheses were constructed or tested.

Research Methods and Data Sources

Data for this study came primarily from Ghanaian print and electronic media sources. Through a systematic search, cases of sex-linked husband–wife killings and attempted murders occurring in Ghana during January 1, 1990 to December 31, 2016 were identified. Print data were drawn from the Daily Graphic, The Ghanaian Times, The Weekly Spectator, The Mirror, and The Daily Guide. For electronic data, the following Ghana-based Internet websites were searched: Ghananewsagency.com , Ghanaweb.com , Ghanamma.com, and ModernGhana.com. Information obtained from these sources was conjoined to construct comprehensive summaries for each identified case. The summaries were systematically analyzed to identify the sociodemographic characteristics of victims and assailants, spatial patterns, precipitating circumstances, and methods of offense commission.

Reliance on media reports for this study was largely due to a lack of comprehensive official information on homicides, attempted homicides, and other crimes in Ghana. Currently, in Ghana, reliable data on homicide and other crimes are unavailable. Official police data on homicide and attempted homicides held in the Statistics Unit of the Ghana Police Service in Accra are limited to monthly and annual totals collated from reports received from the various police stations around the country. Indeed, use of media surveillance methodology to study homicide is not a novel practice but a recognized methodology given the unavailability or inaccessibility of national data sets in several jurisdictions around the world. Numerous researchers from several countries have utilized data obtained from media surveillance methodology to study homicide in the absence of reliable crime data (e.g., Liem & Koenraadt, 2007; Nikunen, 2006). The use of media surveillance for obtaining homicide and other crime data is particularly crucial in non-Western, nonindustrialized countries such as Ghana where national police records on crime are incomplete, unreliable, or simply nonexistent. Furthermore, in countries such as Ghana, tensions in police–civilian relations have created conditions whereby witnesses to criminal events are often more willing to share information with journalists covering crime stories than with police personnel.

There are several other factors that make media surveillance a particularly relevant data source for this research. First, homicide is relatively rare in Ghana. Given their infrequency, murder and attempted murder cases are considered particularly newsworthy, with the major media outlets in the country devoting extensive coverage to them. News reporters conduct extensive investigations into homicides and other violent crimes, often interviewing relatives, friends, acquaintances, neighbors, landlords, employers, and other associates of the victims as well as perpetrators. These efforts invariably culminate in media reports that provide significant details of the crime.

Results

This study identified 25 homicide and attempted homicide cases, from 1990 to 2016, in which husbands assaulted wives for refusing to have sex (see Table 1 and Table 2 for a summary of the results). Of the 25 cases, 14 (56%) were homicides, while 11 (44%) were attempted homicides. Each identified case ignited immense publicity and public discussion. Most of these cases were reported on the front pages of local newspapers and amply covered on radio and television news. Judging by the contents of “Letters to the Editor” columns of local newspapers and comments posted on Internet websites featuring these crime stories, the cases generated horror and public outrage. Consistently, they were severely condemned by gender activists in the country. In Case 3, townspeople were so enraged by the uxoricide that they organized themselves into a vigilante group, storming the police station where the assailant was being temporarily housed and attempted to lynch him.

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Table 1.

Incident Characteristics (n = 25).

	Number	%
Category of offense
Homicide	14	56
Attempted homicide	11	44
Geographical location of incident
Small towns and rural locations	21	84
Urban locations	4	16
Location of event
Couple’s home	21	84
Couple’s farm	3	12
Estranged wife’s residence	1	4
Modus operandi
Hack with machete	6	24
Stab with knife	4	16
Shoot with gun	4	16
Strangulation	3	12
Beat with stick	2	8
Hit with pinch bar	1	4
Hit with stone	1	4
Cut with razor	1	4
Beat with ladle	1	4
Beat with personal weapon	1	4
Poison	1	4

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Table 2.

Descriptive Statistics of Assailants and Victims (n = 25).

	Number	%
Assailant’s age (years)
20-29	5	20
30-39	6	24
40-49	3	12
50-59	6	24
60-69	2	8
Not available	3	12
Victim’s age (years)
20-29	4	16
30-39	3	12
40-49	4	16
50-59	2	8
60-69	0	0
Not available	12	48

Many of the men who killed or attempted to kill their wives over sexual refusal were described in media reports as “sex-starved” and “sex-hungry.” Headlines of stories covering the homicides and attempted homicides included “Man Sex-Starved for a Year Shoots Wife,” “Sex-Starved Man Kills Wife,” “Sex-Starved Fisherman Remanded,” Sex-Starved Man Attempts to Kill Lover,” “Sex-Hungry Man Assaults Wife,” and “Sex-Starved Man Arrested for Killing Wife.” These titles and accounts of the incidents that suggest deprivations suffered by husbands appear to convey to the reader that the victims were partly culpable for their victimization. Another set of media expositions relating to the offenses focused on male sexual drive. In one media feature story coming right on the heels of such a case, a sex counselor and columnist of a popular weekly news magazine, writing under the caption, “Will You Kill For Sex?” asked if male readers’ sexual drive was so strong as to lead them to murder a sexually unwilling partner. He concluded the column with an advice to his readers: “Animals never rape, harm and kill for sex. Human beings must do better. In everything, we must do better to protect human lives. Never compromise human life for few moments of fun in sex” (Boakye, 2016).

Discussion and Conclusion

The present research represents a preliminary effort to understand the role of sexual disputes in uxoricides and attempted uxoricides against Ghanaian women. It is the first systematic attempt to investigate male-perpetrated assaultive violence that was triggered by wives’ sexual refusals. The findings demonstrate that wife sexual refusal is a small but significant factor in wife slayings in Ghana. The present study also extends the rather sparse research currently available on spousal murders in Ghana and contributes to the comparative literature on spousal murder as a global phenomenon.

The dozens of scholarly and popular sources reviewed for this study show that uxoricide represents the most extreme, albeit rarest, response to wife sexual refusal in the society. Myriad other forms of nonlethal aggression are unleashed on women who rebuff husbands’ sexual demands. These include forced sex and psychological abuse. Indeed, during 2011 to 2015, DOVVSU recorded 85,590 incidents of sexual, gender-based violence against Ghanaian women and girls (Gyesi, 2016a). Consequently, addressing sexual-refusal violence must extend beyond a focus on uxoricide and attempted uxoricides; it must encompass all human rights violations associated with gender-based violence since all forms of gender-based violence jeopardize the health, dignity, security, well-being, and independence of victims.

Information reviewed for this article further shows that wives were not the only victims in husband-initiated violence over wife sexual refusal. In one case, the wife-victim ended up killing the husband in the course of fending off the sexual assault. In the night of December 15, 2005, a husband demanded to have sexual intimacy with his wife to whom he had been married for 25 years. When she declined, saying that she “was not ready for him,” he tried to forcibly have sex with her by holding her throat. The wife grabbed and pulled his genitals in response. Neighbors who overheard yelling from the couple’s apartment rushed in and succeeded in separating them. The husband died a day later after complaining about pain in the groin (“Woman Kills Husband,” 2005). In June 2007, the Ghanaian media, reported a murder-suicide case where a man fatally shot his father-in-law and brother-in-law before lethally shooting himself. The assailant blamed his deceased in-laws for not pressuring his estranged wife to return to the marriage and to resume sexual relations with him. According to the report, his wife, with whom he had four children, had been avoiding sex with him because she did not want to have any more children. She had sought refuge in her natal home where her father and brother lived (“Sex-Starved Man Kills In-Laws,” 2007).

A disturbing aspect of the uxoricides profiled here is the large number of cases in which children witnessed the crime. Available evidence suggests that witnessing maltreatment adversely affects children. In Ghana, many children witness nonlethal physical victimization of their mothers in the home. Unfortunately, at present, there are no counseling centers or agencies for dealing with the effects of a childhood history of witnessing or experiencing family violence.

Based on the findings of this research, there are recommendations that may help decrease the incidence of this form of gender violence. First, the government and other relevant institutions, including women’s groups and nongovernmental organizations, must embark on extensive public service campaigns through radio, television, social media, and billboards, to educate the public about the rights of every individual in intimate relations to be free from violence and threats of violence at the hands of a partner. The public should also be educated that it is wrong to perpetrate violence against anyone, including an intimate partner. These campaigns should stress zero tolerance for any form of violence, including as a response to refusing sexual intercourse. Second, professional marital therapy and counseling services should be expanded and made more widely available for couples dealing with relationship difficulties, including discord over sex. There is currently an acute shortage of professional marital counselors in Ghana. The few available professionals tend to be based in Accra and other major metropolitan centers although over half the population lives in rural communities throughout the country. Although Christian churches provide auxiliary counseling services, including counseling for married couples, anecdotal evidence suggests that pastors typically advise wives to return to their matrimonial home and be obeisant to the husband, who is regarded as the head of the household.

As with any research, the present study has limitations that underscore caution in the interpretation of results as well as the need for more research on this topic. First, the data were drawn exclusively from media reports. Although crime reporters in Ghana are typically diligent in their investigations, it is nonetheless impossible to determine the completeness of media-reported data on crime. It is conceivable that only the most violent and dramatic cases are described in comprehensive detail for the sensationalism they create while the less-violent cases receive less coverage and description. It is also probable that some homicide cases were overshadowed by more high-profile news stories of the day, whereby editorial discretion may have been exercised not to publish the homicide story. Another limitation of the present work is the small number of cases studied, which limits our ability to generalize the findings. A small number of cases also does not allow for the running of inferential statistics. However, the small number of cases—in this case the population—could not be increased since the 25 cases constitute all the sex-refusal homicides and attempted homicides that were identified for the study period. Also, monitoring new and additional future cases and performing analysis on a larger number of cases could enhance the reliability of the study findings and allow for generalizability of the results. Future research should consider including law enforcement data, which if available, could prove a useful supplement to media-reported information on the cases. Despite these limitations, the present study helps to illuminate the nature and dynamics of one aspect of spousal violence in Ghanaian society.