Gov’t pathologist debunks defense pathologist’s report 

By Lincoln G. Peters 

The chief pathologist of the Republic of Liberia, Dr. Benedict B. Koule, while on the witness stand here on Monday, December 18, described the defense of American-based pathologist, Dr. Mathau I. Okaye’s autopsy report as very erroneous. 

According to Dr. Koule, Dr. Okaye has the callous intent to introduce element of double in the initial true autopsy conducted by him (Koule).

The Liberian pathologist notes that in his work, he indicated that the cause of death was hypovolemic shock due to multiple stabbed injuries and there were massive loss of blood in the chest.

“If you look at the conjunctiva of Charloe Musu at autopsy, you can clearly see that she is not just severely pure but she is paper white; to perform an autopsy and DNA analysis and come out with a conclusion that a killer is muscular represents a falsification of facts, science, and unimaginable dimensions ” Dr. Koule counters. 

He maintains that the representation of Dr. Okaye is false, misleading and a complete misrepresentation of the facts, arguing that on the left thigh of the body, there is a deep laceration caused by a sharp knife or sharp edge and is moving from the inner part of the thigh to the outer part of the thigh, tilted towards the head slightly, which indicates that it is not a blunt force injury, but an injury like the one before it caused by a sharp edge, most likely a knife testified to by one of the suspects in person of Getrude Newton. 

Dr. Koule says Dr. Okaye represents a gross distortion of the facts, as his findings lack specifics and cannot be measured, so it is vague and designed to mislead the audience of public, adding that medical certainly is measured in terms of probability and that probability which is the chances that an event will occur has to be clearly stated. 

“If I toss a pad, there is a 50% chance that either the head on the coin or the back will show up and that has to be stated; when we treat sick people with terminal sickness, we give the probability of survivor”, he adds.

According to him, Dr. Okaye’s conclusion is based on wrong promise and is therefore false, as it was not scientifically possible for him to have used findings from the crime scene to conclude that a male intruder entered the house. 

He stresses that the DNA samples that he (Dr. Koule) took from the house could not isolate any male DNA, does not in any way mean that no male entered that promise and the presence of DNA from the suspect at the crime scene does not in any way implicate them into the crime from a scientific point of view because the suspect lived in the said home.

“We are all aware that of the four suspects, only one suspect in the person of Gertrude Newton is said to have bled from a minor cut on the skin; it is therefore wrong to take blood samples that are clearly not belonging to the suspect to analyze them and arrive at a conclusion because their DNA was in that blood, they are excluded from the crime” he further argues. 

Dr. Koule notes that the DNA evidence provided by Dr. Okaye clearly indicated that there were artifacts by the +++ along the line representing yardin also known as the Y chromosome, so the issue of contamination arose on the findings of Dr. Koule. 

“My brain is younger; it is sharp, as a Pathologist, I have over the years used my knowledge to provide facts that successfully led to the adjudication of cases”, Dr. Koule brags. 

On the other hand, he argues that Dr. Okaye has used his knowledge for example to perform several autopsies, at least four in Liberia, which he testified to in Court, and that one of those autopsies involved 13 years old Angel Togba, who was living with her guardian Hans William and his girlfriend, Mardea, who were subsequently jailed after Angel died. 

He recalls that while Hans and his girlfriend were in custody, it was Dr. Okaye, who flew into Liberia, two years after the death of the minor and performed an autopsy on the decayed remains of the deceased and declared that he did not find anything. 

“You are aware that deceased Charloe Musu is not a biological daughter of these suspects”, Dr. Koule notes. 

He recalls that when the late Harry Greaves was invited one evening to R.L.J Hotel, he drove himself to the hotel and was called for a meeting, so he arrived at R.L.J. Hotel around 10:00 pm in the night and when he entered that hotel, well and alive, he varnished.  “His body was found later on the beach and Dr. Okaye showed up again in a very critical stage, concluded an autopsy, and said that Harry Greaves died of drowning; that is the track record of this Nigerian Pathologist Dr. Okaye”, Dr. Koule points. Editing by Jonathan Browne