28th November, 2018
Akin Kuponiyi
A Consultant Pathologist, Professor John Obafunwa, on Thursday told a Lagos High Court sitting at Igbosere under cross examination that he was ordered to carry out a post mortem examination on a Nigerian singer, Zainab Nielsen and her three-year-old daughter, Petra, who died of head injuries and asphyxia (or suffocation), by the coroner that conducted inquiry in the case.
He said that the coroner ordered the post-mortem examination because it could fall under the categories of reportable deaths.
Obafunwa explained that reportable deaths are those that are suspicious, violent death, suicide deaths, asphyxia death, surgery death, industrial death of poisoning.
He said that in this case it was violent death which made the coroner to order the post-mortem examination of the deceased victims.
Obafunwa, who was being cross-examined by the defence counsel, Olasupo Shasore SAN, said that there were 20 causes of reportable deaths.
The pathologist who was testifying before Justice Mobolanle Okikiolu-Ighile, said that there was a presumed or alleged assailant in this case, there was another person involved.
When asked if as an independent professional has a duty to ascertain who that person was, he said “my duty is to present my report unbiased, the cause of the death is to be determined by the court”.
Shasore asked if it was unusual for a husband’s DNA to be on the wife.
The professor responded that it was not unusual but depended on the location, the husband’s and wife’s DNA, was in the nails.
“Nails scrapings, it’s unusual to have another person’s not necessarily husband’s DNA, entrapped within the nails scrapings where there has been any contacts specifically scratching,” Obafunwa stated.
When asked if there were other instances in which the symptoms could occur, he said yes, that there were other situations where one could have engorgement of the lungs, but added that in this case he has questionable asphyxia.
The defence counsel suggested that Petra was killed when her nose and mouth were forcibly closed which deprived her of oxygen, blunt force trauma.
In his response, the witness said that there was no toxicological substance of poisoning of Petra.
Asked if he took Petra’s nails scrapings, ‘No I did not, there was no indication.’
“In Petra’s case you mentioned Asphyxia with severe swelling in your evidence yesterday,” Sasore asked.
“Yes, I tried to explain some of the things I observed, on the basis of resistances, in the difference between Zainab and Petra, there wasn’t that level of resistance from the child, the bruises, the abrasions on the face of the mother, they were not present,” Obafunwa stated.
When asked if he could ascertain who died first, he said he could not ascertain who died first because he was not called when the incident occurred.
Sasore also asked the witness if he took the family of the deceased into consideration when he visited the scene of the crime.
He said “I was not supposed to be talking to the family members, but I actually visited the scene with the people connected to the defendant, I am talking of lawyers, the Danish Consular and people from the embassy”.
When asked if he saw photographs of Zainab and Petra, when he visited the scene, Obafunwa said “I was shown some photographs that were taken by the police of when the bodies were discovered, I made reference to an item in the photograph, in my report, but I did not include it in my report, I made reference to what I was told about the bodies location, the photographs were not taken by me, I couldn’t have included that because I did not generate them”.
“In one of the photographs, I observed foam in the mouth of Petra”.
Obafunwa had on Tuesday testified that the result of a DNA analysis of Zainab’s nail clipping revealed the presence of her DNA material and that of an individual described as Peter.
The case has been adjourned till November 29, tomorrow for continuation of trial.