The controversial death of an inmate

An inmate was found dead in a police holding cell on the morning of September 21, 2013. The deceased, prior to his death, had recorded a statement confessing knowledge of the intricate details of the murders of a businessman and his gardener in Mutungo Zone in Nakawa Division of Kampala City on February  3, 2012. The deceased disappeared shortly after the double murders but was tracked down and arrested one year seven and months later.

On discovery of the body of the inmate, the police launched investigations into the death. Part of the investigations included taking photographs of the body in the position it was discovered in and then requesting for a postmortem examination. The photographs taken of the body were later to prove vital in unraveling the mystery of the death.

The doctor who carried out the postmortem examination noted that a sleeve of a jacket was tightly tied in the neck of the deceased with an associated superficial injury that he called a furrow. There were, however, no injuries to the underlying muscles and no injuries to the structures in the neck. The deceased had other injuries on the external part of body but the internal organs were reported as normal.

The pathologist concluded that the inmate died as a result of hanging and his opinion was informed by the fact that he found a sleeve of a jacket tightly tied around the upper part of the neck.  This was his testimony in court when an inquest was carried out into the death of the inmate.

Court, however, at the beginning of the inquest sought the services of another pathologist to conduct a second postmortem examination on the body of the deceased. The second pathologist told the inquest that he received a court order which was made on the 10th day of April 2015, to carry out a post-mortem examination of the body of the late inmate and the order stated that the deceased had died under circumstances that required the holding of an inquest under the Inquests Act. The pathologist told court that upon receipt of said court order he proceeded to the place where the deceased was buried. The exhumation was carried out in the presence of senior police officers and the grave of the deceased was identified his relatives who stated that they were present at the burial of the inmate. The remains were exhumed and examined on 17th April 2015.

That the body exhumed was that of the inmate was not in doubt; the body was that of a male adult in an advanced state of decomposition. The body had surgical wounds that had been sutured and were consistent with wounds of a previous postmortem examination. All the bones of the deceased were clearly identified but none of them had any features of trauma. However the soft tissues could not be individually identified owing to the decomposition. The pathologist told court that at that point he could not establish the cause of death or the circumstances of the death. He therefore requested for and was availed copies of the initial postmortem report and the photographs taken at the initial discovery of the inmate. The initial post-mortem report and scene of crime photos where provided to the pathologist on 8th June 2015.

The pathologist told the Inquest that where a doctor is faced with the body of someone who is reported to have died as a result of suicidal hanging, the right thing to do is to examine the knot and determine whether it was made by the deceased or someone else. In this particular case it was unlikely that the deceased made the knot seen in the photographs.

The doctor also noted that although suicidal hanging is common, people who hang themselves do so in isolated places and such people may have a history of depression or an emotional event linked to the suicide. Most people who hang themselves usually have their clothes on. The doctor found the case under inquiry strange as the deceased did not have a history of depression, hanged himself in a cell where there were other inmates and also removed his clothes before hanging himself. Three other inmates were to tell the Inquest that on the night in question two police officers offered them food, water and some other drinks which, to them, was most unusual. They slept until sunrise only to wake up to the shock of one of them hanging.

The doctor also found it strange that a person said to have died of suicidal hanging would have no injuries in the neck muscles seen at the initial postmortem examination considering the nature of the knot in the neck. The doctor explained to the Coroner that bruising (bleeding into soft tissue) occurs in living tissue due to pressure from a pumping heart and where one finds bruising in the neck muscles during a case of hanging it means that a person was alive at that moment. One reason to explain the absence of injuries in such a case is that the person died before the body was hanged up to simulate suicidal hanging.

When death occurs changes take place in the body that are significant in death investigations. These changes are known as postmortem changes and have been used to determine the time death took place, whether the body was tampered with after death and circumstances of the death.

Immediately death occurs, the body stops producing heat and subsequently the body temperature of the body drops to that of the environment. The temperature of a dead body can therefore be used to determine the time of death.

It takes up to 4 hours for food to stay in the stomach after the last meal. If food is found in the stomach of a dead person, it implies that the person died within 4 hours of taking that meal.

Another important change is that of stiffening of the body. Immediately after death the body is flabby and will take the position dictated by gravity. It is in this position that a body begins to stiffen. The stiffening begins at about 2 to 4 hours after death and is complete within 8 to 12 hours and then wears out within 24 hours.

And once death has occurred, the heart stops pumping blood. The blood in the body therefore gravitates to the most dependent parts and this is determined by the position of the body at the time of death. Parts of the body that are in contact with other objects will not have blood moving into them. This postmortem change will invariably point to whether a dead body was moved or not after death has occurred.

The photographs of the inmate soon after the discovery of the body preserved most of these evidences.

Medical facts

It takes up to four hours for food to stay in the stomach after the last meal. If food is found in the stomach of a dead person, it implies that the person died within 4 hours of taking that meal. Another important change is that of stiffening of the body. Immediately after death the body is flabby and will take the position dictated by gravity. It is in this position that a body begins to stiffen. The stiffening begins at about 2 to 4 hours after death and is complete within 8 to 12 hours and then wears out within 24 hours.

To be continued…