Bolanle Raheem was “likely shot at a close range” – Pathologist

A pathologist and forensic expert has narrated how the post-mortem examination of the body of Bolanle Raheem was conducted.

Olatunde Williams, a health practitioner at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, spoke on Wednesday during the murder trial of Drambi Vandi, a police officer, at a high court in TBS, Lagos.

He said that the deceased was “likely shot at a close range.”

Testimony

Mr Williams said after the body was wheeled into the morgue, the widower and an investigating police officer from the State Criminal Investigation Department were invited to identify the body before his team proceeded to take the measurements of height, weight and forensic photographs which included the clothing of the deceased.

“The body was undressed, and we identified all internal defects and took their photographs. The sizes of these defects were measured and recorded,” he said.

“Next, we proceeded to the internal examination and various internal injuries were identified and recorded”.

“The findings from the external to internal is that there were multiple defects mainly on the anterior chest wall and one defect from the left axillary fold.

“On internal examination, there were multiple visceral or organ injury and musculoskeletal injury and the specific injuries include multiple rib fracture, multiple injuries to the intercostal spaces and injuries to both lungs.”

Cause of death

The doctor said that he was able to establish three things from the examination which could be the cause of death — hemorrhagic shock, destruction of the chest visceral and musculoskeletal tissues.

“The defect was caused by the largest shattered bullet fragment. The targetry path of the bullet is determined by the relative positions of all injuries to each other. In this case, we determine that the targetry path was from left to right,” he explained.

“The base of the severity of the injuries seen, the bullet was moving at maximum force which was likely to be a discharge from a close range. A bullet could strike an object and bounce in the direction of the body.”

“In simple terms, the deceased was pregnant within the period of less than three months,” he added.

During cross examination, Adetokunbo Odutola, the defendant’s lawyer, asked the pathologist if he determined through his postmortem report, the person who pulled the trigger that killed the deceased.

The witness replied that he could not determine that.

Mr Odutola also argued that the witness based his postmortem records on media reports.

Responding, the pathologist said that all conclusions were made based on findings discovered at autopsy.

He added that the degree of the explosive force of a bullet discharged from an AK-47, is thousands of the magnitude of a fire hose, that will penetrate into the body, whether an individual is standing or sitting.

After the witness was discharged, the state solicitor-general and permanent secretary, Titilayo Shitta-Bey, closed the case after presenting at least 10 witnesses.

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The defendant’s lawyer told the court that he will be filing a no-case application in a bid to quash the criminal charge.

The judge, Ibironke Harrison, ordered both lawyers to file adoption for final written addresses within five days, and fixed 28 February, for further hearing.