President George Manneh Weah has directed Justice Minister Cllr. Frank Musah Dean to avail the remains of the late Princess Cooper for the conduct of a second autopsy.
President Weah announced the decision Monday night, 18 April 2022, hours after government-trained pathologists Dr. Benedict B. Kolee and Dr. Zoebon B. Kparteh reported that Ms. Cooper died of tuberculosis.
The deceased’s family and some members of the public rejected the report, with some suggesting the need to have a family-designated pathologist carry out an autopsy on Ms. Cooper’s remains.
The decision, he said, is to lend support to the bereaved family, in their quest to bring closure to the circumstances surrounding the death of their loved one along with concerns raised by some citizens with the initial autopsy, the Executive Mansion said in a release Monday night.
President Weah said the government will fund the conduct of the second autopsy and called on the family to designate a pathologist of their choice, who possesses the requisite credentials and qualifications.
In the directive, President Weah urged Minister Dean to ensure that all civil society, political and other interest groups and individuals who have been involved with advocacy in the case cooperate with the family and send the name of a designated qualified pathologist to the government in the soonest possible time for the conduct of the second autopsy.
President Weah reiterated his condolences to the bereaved family, saying the death of any Liberian, whether by natural or unnatural causes, is concerning to the government.
He has however called on the public to respect Liberian professionals. He reminded them that the pathologists who carried out the initial autopsy were trained to international standards by the Government of Liberia with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
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On Monday, the Government here released two autopsy reports detailing the cause of deaths of two young Liberians-Princess Cooper, 25 and Melvin Togbah, with Pathologists disclosing that the former died of tuberculosis, while the latter from unnatural death linked to severe head injury, severe intoxication with cannabis, and bilateral hemothorax.
“The scientific cause of the death is also named progressive secondary pulmonary tuberculosis. In our professional and expert opinion, the manner of death of Princess Cooper is natural death. Her body had nostrils, oral cavity with clotted blood and sunken eyes,’’ said Dr. Benedict B. Kolee.
Princess’ lifeless body was discovered in a pool of blood inside the Fawaz Building Material store compound at the ELWA junction in Paynesville in March this year.
Releasing the autopsy report Monday at the Ministry of Information’s special press briefing, Dr. Kolee said “it’s clear that she died as a result of natural death caused by tuberculosis.”
Kolee said the report was based on their professional, expert opinion and the comprehensive autopsy that they have conducted on the body of the late Ms. Cooper.
But Princess’ family has rejected the government report, saying what was reported by the government is not consistent with the normal happening to their daughter, describing it as totally unacceptable.
On 24 March 2022, Ms. Cooper’s unresponsive body was found outside at about 1320hr lying on the floor in a pool of blood in the fence of a building hosting the Fawaz Building Materials Store in Paynesville.
The building is located at the ELWA Junction on the right of the road toward the SKD Sports Complex about one block away from the ELWA Junction.
Ms. Princess Cooper was rushed to the emergency room of the John F. Kennedy memorial center where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
The late Ms. Cooper had long dreadlocks on her head, length of 167cm and an estimated weight of 68kg.
She was said to have been engaged in markup and catering, prior to her death, and she was widely known for that.
The official spokesperson of the Cooper Family, Dr. Abel Momo said following the autopsy report on the media, the family feel that what was reported by the government is not consistent with the normal happening of their sister and they think “the report … is [totally unacceptable and we cannot take such a report from the government.”
“However, we are still discussing as a family what is the way forward because it’s consistent with the pattern of death,” he added.
Momo said he got a hint that his sister, Ms. Cooper took treatment at the Clinic in St. Paul Bridge, but what Ms.Cooper presented was a case that is not consistent with tuberculosis.https://thenewdawnliberia.com/princess-cooper-died-from-tuberculosis-but-pres-weah-has-ordered-another-autopsy/
