J.B. Danquah-Adu’s autopsy report missing – Pathologist

The autopsy report on the former Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa North, Mr J.B. Danquah-Adu, who was murdered on February 9, 2016, is missing.

Dr Lawrence Edusei, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy on the former legislator, revealed this at the Accra Central District Court on Thursday.

According to him, his house was burgled in September 2017 and the computer which contained the autopsy report and thousands of other autopsy reports was stolen by the thieves.

Dr Edusei was before the court, presided over by Ms Arit Nsemoh, after he had been subpoenaed in November 2017 to explain why he had not furnished the police with the full autopsy report, 21 months after Mr Danquah-Adu was murdered.

The subpoena followed concerns raised by police prosecutors that the pathologist had failed to release the report and all attempts to obtain it had proved futile.

The delay in the release of the report, the police said, had hampered their efforts to build a solid case against Daniel Asiedu, aka Sexy Don Don, and Vincent Bosso, aka Junior Agogo, the two men linked to the murder of the former.

MP

Asiedu and Bosso are currently before the district court awaiting the commencement of committal proceedings which will facilitate their eventual trial at the High Court.

No payment, no report

Dr Edusei’s explanation led to more questions from the presiding magistrate, who asked the medical officer why he had decided to put the report on his computer and not submit it to the police.

The medical officer, who is currently on retirement, answered that he kept the report because he had not been paid by the Judicial Service for all the autopsies in relation to murder cases he had conducted for the past 15 years.

“So for the past five years I have decided not to issue any report until I am paid for the work I have done for the past 15 years,’’ he said.

The pathologist was about to give more details of what he described as the difficulty he had faced with regard to conducting autopsies on murder cases, but Ms Nsemoh stopped him in his tracks.

According to her, the subpoena was in relation to the case before the court, adding: “I cannot allow you to discuss your whole career.’’

She then asked Dr Edusei what he would do to get the report ready.

He answered that he would have to obtain pictures of the deceased and the crime scenes and also recollect what he wrote in the previous report in order to come up with a new report.

In view of that, Ms Nsemoh adjourned the case to January 18, 2018, with an instruction to the medical officer to submit the report before the date or appear before the court on that day to explain why the report was not ready.

Another twist

The murder of the former MP sent shock waves through the country and the international community and led to many discussions concerning the security of legislators.

The brouhaha over the autopsy report is just another twist in the legal process meant to bring the alleged perpetrator or perpetrators of the murder to justice.

Asiedu and Bosso were on trial at the High Court after more than a year of committal proceedings at the district court.

But, on May 29, 2017, they were discharged by the High Court after the Attorney-General filed a nolle prosequi to discontinue prosecution.

Facts

The facts of the case, as presented by the prosecution, were that the deceased MP lived with his family in a one-storey house at Shiashie, near East Legon, a suburb of Accra, while Asiedu and Bosso lived at Agbogbloshie, also in Accra.

About 11:40 p.m. on February 8, 2016, the MP arrived home in his private car driven by his driver. The driver handed over the ignition keys of the car to Mr Danquah-Adu and left for home, after which the MP retired to bed in a room located on the first floor of his house.

About 1 a.m. that same night, Asiedu and Bosso, armed with a catapult, a cutter and a sharp knife, went to the legislator’s house.

Bosso is said to have assisted Asiedu to enter the house by scaling the wall on the blind side of a security man who was fast asleep. On entering the house, Asiedu picked a ladder and climbed onto a porch on the top floor and entered the MP’s bedroom through a window while Mr Danquah-Adu was sleeping.

While Asiedu was searching the room, the MP woke up and held him. There ensued a struggle, during which Asiedu stabbed the MP in the right chest above the breast. The MP consequently held the knife and Asiedu pulled it through the latter’s hand, leaving a deep cut in his palm.

The legislator bled profusely and fell by his bed, after which Asiedu stabbed him several times on his right chest and neck.

On realising that the MP was dying, Asiedu left the room and took with him three iPhone smartphones.

Meanwhile, the struggle between the MP and Asiedu drew the attention of the security man in the house, who alerted other security men in the neighbourhood.

Having been alerted to the impending danger, Bosso took to his heels, leaving Asiedu behind. However, Asiedu managed to descend from the top of the house and jumped over the electric fencing on the walls of the house into an adjoining house and escaped.