Hemorrhagic shock killed Lowo Oyediran – Pathologist

A prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of 28-year-old Yewande Oyediran (nee Fatoki), a lawyer with the Oyo State Ministry of Justice who is standing trial for allegedly causing the death of Lowo Oyediran, her 38 years old husband, on Wednesday, told the court that the deceased died of hemorrhagic shock from the stabbed wound of a sharp object.

The witness, Professor Oluwanisola Olayiwola, a consultant pathologist with the University College Hospital (UCH) and a part time consultant pathologist to the Oyo State government, made this claim while testifying in the trial before Justice Munta Abimbola at the High Court in Ring road, Ibadan.

Professor Olayiwola in his testimony stated that he received the corpse of the late Lowo Oyediran at the Adeoyo Maternity Hospital on February 3, 2016, to carry out coronary autopsy based on a request from the Nigerian police, Oyo State command, adding that he carried out the autopsy on February 4, the day after he received the body.

According to him, the body given to him for autopsy is that of a young man wearing only boxers and pants, adding that the body had a stab wound on the left shoulder located about 10cm from the root of the neck covered by dried blood.

The pathologist stated that the wound measured about 3.2cm in length and 0.4 cm in depth and did not extend beyond the substantaneous fat under the skin with associated bruises, adding that there was a second fresher widely gaping wound located on the lower outer edge of the lower jaw which measured 6.5cm and was slanted 0.7cm in depth.

He revealed that his assessment further showed evidence of shock in the kidney and systematic hypertension-in-health and aspiration pneumatic in the lungs.

“The stomach was normal and congested, there was no evidence of head injury or trauma to the head,” he said.

He concluded that his medical opinion in relation to the cause of death is hemorrhagic shock from the stab wound from any sharp object.

The prosecution further called another witness, the Investigating Police Officer, identified as Inspector Oladejo Olayemi, attached to the state Criminal Investigation Division (CID), Iyaganku in Ibadan, who told the court that Yewande made a statement to them at the station in English language.

In his testimony before the court, he stated that Yewande denied killing her husband, but admitted stabbing him with scissors, explaining further that she rather claimed that while she was asleep, she felt the deceased hitting her with an object and she woke up to find her husband with a piece of plank.

He added that she said she started running around the apartment and the deceased dropped the plank, picked a knife and was chasing her and she escaped from the apartment to the compound where they started struggling with the knife, claiming that she pulled herself from him while he fell down and sustained injury.

Inspector Olayemi stated that they visited the site of the incident and recovered a scissors and pieces of plank and identified a scissors, 40 complimentary cards, a diamond business cheque book and a passport photograph of a baby.

According to him, investigations also revealed that there was no mark of injury, wound or fracture on Yewande and tendered a plank that she claimed her husband used to beat her, a scissors, two Ipads and a Samsung phone as evidence and they were admitted by the court as evidence.

The trial continues tomorrow (Thursday) before Justice Abimbola.