By Janet A. Sesay
State counsel O. V. Robin-Mason prosecuting the alleged murder of Sonia Mary Thomas by Elizabeth Mande Judith Kanu has on Thursday February 24, 2022 closed the prosecution’s case after leading eight witnesses in court.
The accused, Elizabeth Mande Judith Kanu is arraigned before the principal magistrate of magistrate court no.1, Magistrate Sahr Kekura on preliminary investigations into the alleged murder of Sonia Mary Thomas.
According to the indictment, it was alleged that the accused on Monday September 6, 2021 at the UNIMAK campus’s Fatima Hostel in Makeni, murdered Sonia Mary Thomas.
The eighth and last prosecution witness, Dr Patrick Turay in his evidence led by the prosecutor, said he is a physician and a medical doctor at the Holy Spirit Hospital in Makeni.
He recalled that on September 6, 2021 while on duty at the said hospital at around 8:50pm, he was called to go to the emergency room in respect of the now deceased; that upon his arrival the victim, now deceased, was given a cardiac massage by the nurses in the room.
He said being given cardiac massage means that the patient is either in a critical condition or in a coma and they are trying to resuscitate that person to come back to life.
Dr Turay added that he could not record the victim’s blood temperature because her vital signs were absent. He further informed the court that he was the one that examined the now deceased Sonia Thomas.
‘As a doctor, if you cannot record the vital signs in a patient, there must be a reason, of which one is cardiac arrest, traumatic attack be it physical, and infectious disease. I could not pinpoint specifically with regards to this particular patient (the deceased) the reason why the vital signs were absent,’ said the doctor of over 20 years.
After examining the patient, he said they continued trying to resuscitate her ‘using oxygen for about 30 minutes, but still there was no response. At 10pm I confirmed her dead’.
He said because he could not ascertain the cause of death, he involved police personnel and university officials in his recommendation of a post mortem examination to establish the cause of death. Dr Turay disclosed that the late Sonia’s case was the very first time he had come across such a case.
Answering a question put to him, the doctor said Sonia was brought to the hospital by university officials and some of her friends. The deceased’s medical report was then produced and tendered in court as “exhibit K”.
During cross examination by defence counsel J. M. Jengo, Dr Turay said when he entered the hospital, he met certain people he believed were representatives of the university.
Asked if Sonia was already in the emergency room before he got to the hospital including that the nurses were already giving her a cardiac massage, he replied in the affirmative. He revealed that the victim was brought in a state where her vital signs were not active.
Asked if vital signs are there when a heart is functioning well, he replied that vital signs are a combination of parameters of the blood pressure and temperature, adding that the human body functions as a team, which includes the heart, liver, lungs, kidney and other organs.
He stated further that cardiac means the heart and confirmed that a cardiac massage is done to assist the heart to function well. At this juncture the prosecution closed its case and defence lawyer Jessie Jengo requested for a fortnight to do his no case submission.
The matter was however adjourned to March 3, 2022.