OAU PG student died of severe haemorrhage, pathologist tells court

Waheed Oluogun, a consultant pathologist at Osun State University Teaching Hospital, says Timothy Adegoke died of a severe haemorrhage secondary to severe traumatic injury.

Adegoke, a master’s student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, traveled from Abuja to write an exam at the OAUs distance learning centre in Moro, Osun state on November 5.

The student, who had lodged at Hilton Hotel and Resort, Ile-Ife was, however, found dead on November 7.

Rahman Adedoyin, the hotel owner, and six of his workers are standing trial before the court in connection with the alleged murder of Adegoke.

At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, Oluogun, who is the fifth prosecution witness, told Adepele Ojo, the judge, that he undertook a postmortem on the deceased on November 22, 2021, alongside six other experts.

The pathologist disclosed that he was present at the scene where the corpse of the deceased was exhumed on November 15.

He said he got a call from one Hafiz Olaniyan, a police inspector, asking him to come for the exhumation of the dead body in Ile Ife, Osun state.

“When I got there, I met some police operatives, three members of the family were present and a deputy commissioner of police in Osun also joined us at the site,” he said.

“We found a buried dead body along Ile-Ife/Ede road about 1.5 kilometers to OAU campus gate. While exhuming the body, it was found to be completely wrapped in a bloody stained duvet without exposing any part of the body.

“It was found in a supine position with two different ropes, one around the neck, the one around the ankles.

“There were maggots found around the left side of the head up to the entire left upper limb. The body was taken to the mortuary section of UNIOSUN Teaching hospital, Osogbo.

“The body was identified by his brother, Adegoke Olugbade. At our teaching hospital, we planned for post mortem examination to know the cause of death. On the 22nd November 2021, 7 pathologists came for the examination.

“A pre autopsy meeting was held. The autopsy started around 2:25 pm. X-ray was done in UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital, which revealed a fracture of the right thigh bone. On external exam, we received an adult black man.

“There was a clean-cut wound on the left side of the left chest wall measuring 6 by 4 cm close to the left armpit.

“The soft tissue around that area showed marked tissue reaction measuring 32 by 13 centimeters.

“On internal examination, there was generalised autolysis of internal organs with striking generalised organ pallor.

“There was a blood cloth in the right chest cavity. There was a fracture of the left hyoid bone of the neck with the fracture of the right cricoid cartilage.

“There were no superficial neck markings. There was no obvious tissue reaction to the neck.

“No bleeding to the neck. The brain, the heart, lungs, liver, spleens, kidneys are present in their normal anatomical position with various degrees of decomposition. The external genitalia is intact.

“Tissues were taken from the wound sites for microscopic examination. We compared it with the normal right chest wall. The results revealed there was bleeding to the tissue around the wound site.

“The right side of the chest wall showed only autolysis. There was complete skeletonisation of the upper limb with disarticulation of the left elbow joint and left wrist joint. The bone of the arm separates from that of the wrist joint.

“I certify the cause of death to be severe haemorrhage secondary to severe traumatic injury.”

K. Eleja, counsel to the first defendant, asked the consultant that, if the disarticulation he mentioned was not because the corpse was not preserved.

Oluogun said the disarticulation must have occurred before the demise of Adegoke, as such did not occur at the other side of the deceased body.

The pathologist, who also said he did not have a medical history of the deceased before his death, added that microscopic examination conducted revealed that the internal organs were intact.

Adepele Ojo, the judge, adjourned the matter to Thursday for the continuation of the hearing.