SEVEN out of 10 domestic violence cases reported under the Ministry of Health’s One-Stop Crisis Centre (OSCC) in 2019 were due to physical abuses, ministry figures show.

“The total number of abuse cases reported for 2019 was 10,880 where 7,668 (70.5%) were abuse cases, 3,132 (28.6%) were sexual abuse and 80 cases were psychological abuse (0.9%),” said Rina Harun in a written reply to Dewan Rakyat today.

The Women, Family and Community Development Minister said Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya had the highest number of domestic violence cases at 1,296.

“This is followed by 1,257 from Johor and 1,141 from Penang,” said the Titiwangsa MP.

Parents were the main abusers in physical abuse cases involving children under 18, whereas for adults, the cases came from husband-and-wife relationships, said Rina.

“In cases of sexual abuse involving children, most of the abusers were relatives, while for adults, the abusers were parents.

“Similarly, parents were the main abusers in emotional abuse cases involving children, and husband and wife in adult cases,” said the minister.

She added that women bore the brunt of the abuses, whether physical or rape, while sodomy victims were mostly male.

“The majority of psychological abuses were against female children aged up to nine years old. The majority of victims in rape, sodomy and psychological abuse were Malays,” said Rina.

According to Social Welfare Department statistics, there were 3,391 abuse cases reported between 2016 and June 2020.

“The states with the highest number of domestic abuse cases were Selangor (718 or 21.2%), followed by Penang (519 or 15.3%) and Kedah (364 or 10.7%).

“61% of the offenders were aged 22 to 39, while 33% were aged between 40 and 59.

“59.2% of the abuse victims were aged between 22 and 30, followed by 20.4% for those aged between 40 and 59,” said Rina.

The minister was responding to Alice Lau’s (Lanang-PH) question on the number of domestic violence cases reported at hospitals and clinics from 2016 to 2019. – November 18, 2020.