Posted by By GODWIN TSA, Abuja on
The six Apo traders killed in Abuja on June 8 died of gun shots fired at them at a very close range and were buried with street clothes in two shallow unmarked graves , a team of pathologists led by Professor Olusegun Ojo told the Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Friday.
The six Apo traders killed in Abuja on June 8 died of gun shots fired at them at a very close range and were buried with street clothes in two shallow unmarked graves , a team of pathologists led by Professor Olusegun Ojo told the Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Friday.
In the autopsy report , Ojo, an Anatomical Pathologist and Consultant with Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Teaching Hospital, Ile Ife, Osun State,, explained that they may have died as a result of cerebral laceration due to "high velocity missile", which could be from a gunshot.
The Pathologist however, said that gun pellets were not recovered from the bodies when the autopsy was conducted adding that the bodies were in advanced stage of decomposition, when they were exhumed.
Professor Ojo, who led a team of pathologists to exhume the decomposing bodies of the victims on July 29 for an autopsy report, noted that some of them were buried with their T-shirts, Jeans trousers, under wears and shoes.
He explained that the female victim, Augustina Arebum, was buried with her brassier, earrings, T-shirt and trouser jeans.
According to him, one of the unmarked graves contained four bodies including the female victim, while two others were recovered from the second grave.
The unmarked graves, covered with residuous vegetation, located ten metres away from the road was identified by Suleiman Haruna, a staff of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, who witnessed the burial of the victims.
The report explained that a DNA test would not be necessary since the bodies recovered from the two graves were identified as that of the victims through the pre-burial photographs.
Ojo said the cause of death of Anthony Idam could only be determined with the result of the toxicological analysis still expected from Lagos.
Also on Friday, Police Force ballistician, Callistus Ogbolu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) told the commission that his findings revealed that the pistol belonging to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Danjuma Ibrahim was fired "recently".
However, Ogbolu, who has spent 20 years as Police Ballistician could not determine the actual date it was fired. He added that perforation on the peugeot 406 in which the Apo six was said to have been killed, could have been made by a pistol or revolver but not a rifle.
He, however, said that the 406 have been tampered with before he was invited to inspect it.
"There were six perforations, one on the driver's side and five at the back door, my examination also showed that the firing was done at a close range and therefore did not give room to determine the type of firearms used"