Homicide Question Answer 2022

The Simon Gittany Murder Case Task: Assessment 1 is a take home assignment. Using the information provided by the Research Guides of the LIAC Crime Library for reference [URL: http://guides.sl.nsw.gov.au/content.php?pid=242811&sid=4470050] provide short answers to the following questions: 1.What type of homicide is featured in this case? (Note: Be as specific as possible) 2.What are the main characteristics of the offender (eg. age, ethnicity, occupation, previous criminal history, previous victimisation, health-related issues, family history)? 3.To what extent are these offender characteristics similar to or different from general patterns in offenders who commit this particular type of homicide? (Please provide references for information provided on trends in the general offender characteristics) 4.What are the main characteristics of the victim (eg. age, ethnicity, occupation, previous criminal history, previous victimisation, health-related issues, family history)

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Table of Contents
Answer to Question 1......................................................................................................................3
Answer to Question 2......................................................................................................................3
Answer to Question 3......................................................................................................................4
Answer to Question 4......................................................................................................................5
Answer to Question 5......................................................................................................................5
Answer to Question 6......................................................................................................................6
Answer to Question 7......................................................................................................................7
Reference list...................................................................................................................................8

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Answer to Question 1
In this case, Mr. Simon Gittany was charged for the murder of Mrs. Lisa Harnum in 2011. There
are different types of homicide that include murder, killing in war and manslaughter (Iratzoqui &
McCutcheon, 2018). In this case, domestic homicide or to be very specific intimate partner
homicide (IPH) has occurred. Intimate partner homicide can be defined as the killing of a female
whose age over 18 years that occurs due to a result of domestic violence. In this type of killing,
intimate partner, spouse or ex-spouse are involved in the killing. In Australia, intimate homicide
is mostly committed by males and females are usually identified as victims. In 77% of cases of
domestic homicide, females are victims and male partners are convicted for the murder (Carcach
& James, 2010). This type of murder occurs generally in the intimacy of homes where social
control is very less. In such a case, the court can gain knowledge about the case by analyzing day
to day relationship between victim and murderer.
Answer to Question 2
Mr. Gittany is the offender in this case and he is 40 years old man (Austlii.edu.au, 2013). His
parents have emigrated from Lebanon and he has been raised with five siblings in Sydney. He
has completed higher study and has started working as a tiler. Later he has mentioned to his
psychologist that he did not work in a company for more than six months, but continued working
as a tiler in further life. Previous criminal record of this person is there. At the age of 18, he has
attacked a man and got arrested. After 3 years, again it was found that Gittany has stolen
properties from a lady. Gittany was insecure and dominating to Lisa. It has been found that he is
schizoid by nature. It means that he is suffering from reluctant depression. According to

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McPhedran et al. (2018), this kind of person feels that they are not important and capable. His
insecurity and possessiveness have overshadowed the respect for Lisa. He has not allowed Lisa
to spend her life on her standard and wish. His psychologist has made him pass through a
personality test and it has been found that he was depressed, schizoid and dependent kind of
person. As stated by Flynn, Gask, Appleby & Shaw (2016), this kind of mental condition can
drive a person to perform crime.
Answer to Question 3
There are general characteristics of offenders that are similar to that of Mr. Gittany. Among the
general characteristics, mental disorder is significant. As opined by Häggström & Petersson
(2012), offenders of intimate femicide generally suffer from a different mental disorder that
includes depression or dysphoria. In this case, Mr. Gittany is suffering from depression and is a
schizoid patient. Moreover, he was aggressive is a dependent kind of person. Häggström &
Petersson (2012) have identified some general characteristics like aggressiveness, emotionally
unstable among offenders of intimate homicide. Previous criminal record of Mr. Gittany shows
that he was offended several times for assaulting, stealing and other crimes. Hence, a criminal
mentality was in him and can be identified as a trait. In general, this type of character is seen
among offenders who commit domestic violence or intimate femicide (Salari & Sillito, 2016).
He has led an antisocial lifestyle and committed different violence previously. This has been
caused due to his aggressive mindset and mental disorder. In a study conducted by Loinaz,
Marzabal & Andrés-Pueyo (2018), it has been shown that there is a direct link between mental
disorder and violence. Depression of Mr. Gittany and his aggressive behavior has increased the
chance of murder and his insecurity for Mrs. Lisa has boosted the incidence.

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Answer to Question 4
Lisa Harnum is the victim in this case and she was 30 years old Canadian lady. She came to
Australia with a working visa. She always wanted to be a permanent resident of Australia. Lisa
was a dancer until 16 years of age and after that, she has left dancing. She met with Gittany in
between 2009 and 2010. They were engaged to be married and they started living together in a
housing unit at The Hyde apartment in Liverpool. She has told her mother that the accused did
not want her to go to the gym and has appointed a personal trainer for her. Lisa has not faced any
kind of physical or mental torture before in any relationship. All her suffering has started after
living together with Gittany. She was employed as a receptionist while they started living
together. Till 2010, she was working and after that, she was forced by the accused to leave her
job (Austlii.edu.au, 2013). She wanted to live her life on her terms and her mother was like her
best friend. She had shared many of her life's incidents with her mother. She wanted to end the
relationship with Gittany, but could not as he has threatened her.
Answer to Question 5
Intimate partner homicide generally occurs if the victim gets engaged in any kind of arguments
or disagreement with the offender during the time of murder (Aizer, 2011). There are many
instances in this case where argument occurred between the offender and victim. In 2010, the
accused has an argument with the victim and he told her to leave the keys. In February and June
in 2011, several times arguments took place between Lisa and Gittany (Austlii.edu.au, 2013).
Hence, these disagreements by the victim and arguments occurred have boosted the incidence.

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Generally, it can be seen that intimate partner homicide occurs to women who are unemployed.
It was seen that Lisa was employed when they moved in with Gittany. However, later she left the
job with the encouragement of the offender. Moreover, the accused did not let the victim do job
anymore that led to several arguments between them. Mean age of victims who suffered intimate
homicide is between 30 to 40 years and age of Lisa is 30 years is the time of murder. Moreover,
the victims who are generally murdered by their partner face domestic violence like a physical
assault. In this case, Lisa complained to her mother regarding domestic violence that she receives
from her partner.
Answer to Question 6
The risk factor is not only physical in this case but the dominance and aggression of Gittany that
is showed in Mrs. Lisa is a risk factor in this case. In this case R v Gittany (No 4) [2013] NSWSC
1737, it can be seen that there are several instances of arguments that occurred due to the
aggression of the offender. He did not even allow the victim to meet with other people and react
badly if she wants to go out. He played a major role in leaving her job and did not allow her to
join later.
The risk factor gradually increased when the offender does not even allow Lisa to conduct
simple things like wearing certain clothes and makeup. He installed CCTV cameras to monitor
her activities and even set up an application to track her text messages. It was also seen that
Harnum wanted to end the relationship that has so many restrictions. However, Gittany loses his
mind and even threatened her to kill. These symptoms can be considered as risk factors that have
led to this incident of domestic homicide. It can also be seen that during the course of
relationship the accused has controlled play an abusive, controlling and harshly dominating

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character. This has diminished self-esteem and confidence in Lisa. This aggressive and bad
behavior of the offender has increased gradually by the time of this incident.
Answer to Question 7
In this case, Mrs. Joan Harnum, mother of Lisa can be considered as potential guardian, who
could save Lisa from accused. Lisa was very close to her mother and she used to share about his
disputed relationship with her mother. After every argument, she used to tell her mother. She
could consult with a legal advisor to get a solution for her daughter. She knows everything from
day one and she was aware of the disrespectful behavior of Gittany towards Lisa. Lisa was living
in a relationship, where she was being mentally tortured and abused. She wanted to live her life
on her own terms. However, Gittany was dominating her and made her leave the job as well. She
was feeling alone and she has told this to her mother. Mrs. Harnum could encourage her daughter
to fight for her rights and end the relationship. However, Lisa was not able enough to fight for
her and Gittany could kill her at any time. Perhaps, she has not felt that Gittany can go to this
extent. Similarly, her mother has not thought that her daughter can be murdered brutally.
According to Hanlon, Brook Demery & Cunningham (2016), if parents can feel negative vibes,
they warn their children to protect them. In this case, the mother of the victim could have
protected her, if she took the initiative to help her immediately after knowing about the negative
behavior of Gittany. Her mother was living in Canada and it can be considered as a reason
behind her failure to protect Lisa. Legal advice could be gathered and shared with Lisa and this
approach could help her from being harmed by Gittany.

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Reference list
Aizer, A. (2011). Poverty, violence, and health the impact of domestic violence during
pregnancy on newborn health. Journal of Human resources, 46(3), 518-538. Retrieved
from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4019993
Austlii.edu.au (2013), R v Gittany (No 4) [2013] NSWSC 1737, [Online], Retrieved on 3rd
August from:
http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2013/1737.html
Carcach, C., & James, M. P. (2010). Homicide between intimate partners in Australia (Vol. 90).
Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. Retrieved from:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6b61/d2bf66b146ab98e48a01676f79c800c1f2dc.pdf
Flynn, S., Gask, L., Appleby, L., & Shaw, J. (2016). Homicide–suicide and the role of mental
disorder: a national consecutive case series. Social psychiatry and psychiatric
epidemiology, 51(6), 877-884. Retrieved from:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-016-1209-4
Häggström, E., & Petersson, J. (2012). Characteristics of intimate partner homicide perpetrators.
Institution of Health Sciences Retrieved from:
http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:540123/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Hanlon, R. E., Brook, M., Demery, J. A., & Cunningham, M. D. (2016). Domestic homicide:
Neuropsychological profiles of murderers who kill family members and intimate
partners. Journal of forensic sciences, 61, S163-S170. Retrieved from:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1556-4029.12908

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Iratzoqui, A., & McCutcheon, J. (2018). The influence of domestic violence in homicide
cases. Homicide Studies, 22(2), 145-160. Retrieved from:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1088767917751673
Loinaz, I., Marzabal, I., & Andrés-Pueyo, A. (2018). Risk factors of female intimate partner and
non-intimate partner homicides. European journal of psychology applied to legal
context, 10(2), 49-55. Retrieved from:
https://journals.copmadrid.org/ejpalc/archivos/articulo20180618114734.pdf
McPhedran, S., Eriksson, L., Mazerolle, P., De Leo, D., Johnson, H., & Wortley, R. (2018).
Characteristics of homicide-suicide in Australia: a comparison with homicide-only and
suicide-only cases. Journal of interpersonal violence, 33(11), 1805-1829. Retrieved
from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Samara_Mcphedran/publication/
286446787_Characteristics_of_Homicide-
Suicide_in_Australia_A_Comparison_With_Homicide-Only_and_Suicide-Only_Cases/
links/5c48eadc299bf12be3df130b/Characteristics-of-Homicide-Suicide-in-Australia-A-
Comparison-With-Homicide-Only-and-Suicide-Only-Cases.pdf
Salari, S., & Sillito, C. L. (2016). Intimate partner homicide–suicide: perpetrator primary intent
across young, middle, and elder adult age categories. Aggression and Violent
Behavior, 26, 26-34. Retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sonia_Salari/publication/285759613_Intimate_partn
er_homicide_suicide_Perpetrator_primary_intent_across_young_middle_and_elder_adult
_age_categories/links/569406f708ae3ad8e33b5069/Intimate-partner-homicide-suicide-
Perpetrator-primary-intent-across-young-middle-and-elder-adult-age-categories.pdf