The corpse of Mrs. Justina Joshua, the pregnant woman whose gory death at Onipanu in Idanre Local Government Area of Ondo state has been attracting public outcry was, on Thursday, withdrawn from of the General Hospital Idanre and deposited at the morgue of the Ondo State Specialists Hospital in Akure.
The corpse of Mrs. Justina Joshua, the pregnant woman whose gory death at Onipanu in Idanre Local Government Area of Ondo state has been attracting public outcry was, on Thursday, withdrawn from of the General Hospital Idanre and deposited at the morgue of the Ondo State Specialists Hospital in Akure.
SaharaReporters gathered that the corpse of the 28-year-old pregnant woman, who is an indigene, of Akwa Ibom was moved in the ambulance belonging to the Ministry of Health, General Hospital in Idanre.
The movement was supervised by a crack team of armed policemen from the Homicide section of the Criminal Investigation Department [CID] of the Ondo State Police Command headquarters in Akure, our correspondent observed.
Some leaders of Idanre community led by the Olu of Onipanu, Claudius Ademehintoye, representing the Owa of Idanre land, Oba Frederick Aroloye, joined the relatives of the deceased and representatives of the Akwa Ibom community in the Ondo state to supervise the movement of the corpse to the Akure hospital.
However, SaharaReporters was told that the family and representatives from the Akwa Ibom community have rejected the corpse, which had already been decomposed and mutilated
Inibehe Effiong, a human right activist lawyer, narrated the pitiable conduction of the corpse that was dumped ‘unkempt’ at the morgue of the General Hospital in Idanre to SaharaReporters on Thursday evening.
Mr. Effiong, who is also the Convener for the Coalition of Human Rights Defenders (COHRD), is now asking the police to do its job by conducting a proper investigation into the circumstances surrounding the terrible condition of the corpse.
“Upon our arrival at the mortuary of State General Hospital in Akure, we discovered that the corpse has not only decomposed but may have been tampered with and we have to reject it [corpse] immediately.
“Now, we want the corpse to be re-embalmed immediately by the other parties [Idanre chiefs] to prevent it from decomposing further.
“And an autopsy should also be carried out on the corpse to determine the cause of death (at least for the records). These three demands were unreservedly accepted”, he said.
Mr. Kuku Ikpidungise, the Director of the Legal Aid Council in Ondo State also told SaharaReporters that the police had already begun an investigation to unravel why the corpse was kept [decomposed] in such a gory manner.
Mr. Ikpidungise added that the families of the deceased and representatives of the Akwa Ibom delegation were suspicious that some parts of the corpse were mostly her leg was allegedly mutilated for rituals by the chiefs.
“There was suggestion that rats might have eaten the affected and troubling parts due to poor care but we believed that investigation would unravel what happened and why the corpse was not embalmed properly.
“But, a team of investigators led by the O/C Homicide has returned to the Idanre General Hospital as part of their investigations while the corpse will be re-embalmed today [Thursday] and the autopsy will take place on Monday as agreed”, she said.
The two legal practitioners have also asked for the prosecution of Seun Oke [Tree Cutter] and Awote Rotimi [Farm Owner] adding that the duo must face the full wrath of the law for causing the untimely death of the 28-year old pregnant woman.
The Olu of Onipanu, Claudius Ademehintoye, continued with his pleas on Thursday by begging family of the victims’ and representatives of the Akwa Ibom delegations for leniency
“Please, you have to tamper justice with mercy and forgive us [Idanre chiefs] our wrongdoings. We have accepted our fault by causing the death of this pregnant woman. My lawyers, we are very sorry,” he said.
But, Mr. Effiong who later spoke on behalf of the leaders of the Akwa Ibom representatives said they are not perturbed by the ‘crocodile tears’ and pleas of the Idanre chiefs.