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Ampatuan lawyer: Banana cue stick used in massacre victims' autopsy


(Updated 9:37 p.m.) The camp of multiple murder suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr. on Wednesday questioned before a Quezon City court the manner of autopsy done on the victims of the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre in Maguindanao province. According to the defense, police medico-legal officer Chief Inspector Dean Cabrera did not use autopsy tools like a microscope, a retractable probe, and an X-ray machine in examining the bodies of 12 victims of the 57 victims. Instead, Cabrera used a magnifying lens and a banana cue stick, according to Sigfrid Fortun, legal counsel of Andal Jr., during the cross examination of Cabrera. Usually made of bamboo, a banana cue stick is commonly used to skewer fried banana coated in caramelized sugar. Cabrera, however, was unshaken by Fortun's attempt to discredit him and his findings. “While our equipment and methods are admittedly dated, they had no bearing on the final findings," he told reporters in an interview. He said he was forced to use unsophisticated equipment because an X-ray machine, testing kits, probes and microscopes were unavailable. Inconsistencies Fortun also pointed out “inconsistencies" in the original autopsy report made by Cabrera and the final report he submitted to court. He said the draft of the autopsy report indicated that the bodies of the victims were in an "early state of decomposition" while the final report indicated they were in an "advanced state of decomposition." Cabrera, in response, said it might have been due to typographical error. Cabrera also admitted in court that he did not take photos of all the wounds sustained by the 12 victims he autopsied. The prosecution, however, said it was immaterial. "That does not have any bearing in the case, anyway," said prosecution lawyer Nena Santos, who represents Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, whose wife and two sisters were killed in the massacre. “They didn’t disprove that the victims died of gunshot wounds," she added, stating that the "fact of death" was proven, regardless of the procedure used in the autopsy. Trajectory Also during the hearing, Fortun questioned the credibility of Cabrera’s statements on the possible trajectory of the bullets that killed the victims, which prompted Cabrera to admit that he never visited the site of the gruesome massacre. “No, I did not go to the site," Cabrera told Fortun, adding that it was possible that the topography of the hilly portion where the victims were killed could have affected the bullet trajectory in relation to the position of the victims’ bodies. Santos said it was really not required of Cabrera to examine the trajectory of the bullets as well as conduct a microscopic study of the bodies, because that was the job of a pathologist and ballistician. Interviewed during a break in the proceedings, Fortun and other defense counsels declined to elaborate on what they were trying to drive at with Fortun’s line of questioning. No offense Talking to reporters after the hearing at the Quezon City Hall of Justice, Cabrera said he does not fault the defense lawyers for trying to discredit him before the court. “That's the job of the defense. But it is also my job to just explain the findings of my autopsy," he said. Cabrera has been taking the witness stand in the bi-weekly hearings since early December last year. In his appearances, he testified that the 12 victims he examined sustained multiple gunshot wounds and suffered "a painful death." Cabrera said that three female victims could have been raped, after vaginal swabs taken from their genitals tested positive for the presence of seminal fluid. Acid phosphatase test Fortun tried to debunk this claim too during the hearing, noting that the test done by Cabrera was inconclusive. He dismissed the acid phosphatase detection test used to establish seminal fluids in the victims’ vaginal canals. Vaginal swabs and cut portions from the victims' underwear tested positive for seminal fluid in this test. "[But] This is only a field test," Cabrera said, explaining that the same enzyme is also secreted by female genitalia. Other tests such as prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing must be done to establish that seminal fluids were indeed present, the medico-legal expert admitted. Speculations that the victims could have been sexually abused earlier arose because some of them were discovered with their pants down. But while being cross examined, Cabrera admitted in court that the undergarments were intact when he first saw the victims in separate funeral homes in the cities of Tacurong and Koronadal. The expert said this would suggest that the lower garments could have possibly been only pushed down by abdominal bloating and skin slippage, and not necessarily by force. Cabrera added that bloating and slippage are naturally occurring processes in the early stages of decomposition. The prosecution is planning on subjecting to a DNA test the seminal fluid discovered in the female victims' genitals, and matching them with the DNA of the massacre suspects for possible additional charges of rape. A total of 196 individuals have been charged with 57 counts of murder in connection with the massacre. Among the accused are prominent members of the powerful Ampatuan clan, including its patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr. — KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV
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