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Liberia: Angel Was Sexually Abused
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The Analyst (Monrovia)
13 February 2008
Posted to the web 13 February 2008
November 30, 2007 was a dark day for 13-year old Meideh Angel Tokpah who was found hanging at 7:30 pm in a bathroom of her guardians on the Old Road, Sinkor, in Monrovia.
Just before her lifeless body was submitted to postmortem examination, the police issued a statement that she committed suicide, which corroborated her guardian, Hans Williams.
Women, student and youth groups and human rights organizations challenged the police report. But the postmortem report #009 conducted by Anthony S. Quaye raised more questions than answers.
As J. Nathaniel Daygbor reports, an autopsy performed by foreign experts has found out that Angel was not only sexually abused, she was strangled to death.
Historical Perspective
Students of Christ the King School Old road had just begun their weekend on November 30, 2007 when the news broke that one them, 13-year old adolescent Meideh Angel Togba was dead.
Little Angel, weighing 38 kg and 150 cm tall, was found hanging from a belt in the bathroom of her Guardian Mr. Hans Williams. The alarm was blown, neighbors converged at the Williams' residence, and the police was alerted.
Police reported that little Angel died on the same Friday, Nov. 30, 2007 at 7:30 as a result of hanging. The body was then submitted to the Medical Examiner of the Liberian National Police, Anthony S. Quayee.
Mr. Quayee conducted the postmortem examination while the body of the deceased was yet un-embalmed, frozen, partially dressed in a multiple color blouse and multiple colors torn panties.
No mention was made in the autopsy report as to what partially tore Angel's panties, but the report admitted the deceased suffered a violent death.
Describing the vaginal orifice, Dr. Quayee said Angel's heymen was broken with irregular edges. A medical practitioner who spoke with The Analyst when the "heymen" is broken a female is said to be de-virginized.
The Quayee autopsy also said the "mucobloody vaginal" discharge was present on the body of Angel Togba.
In his conclusion, Quayee said there was evidence of a torn panties, but claimed that during the investigation, "the evidence of sexual abuse couldnot be established because of duration elapsed before the postmortem examination was performed".
Quayee said in his report that Angel's Suprebubic hair (hair around her private part), vaginal secretion, vaginal tissue were taken for DNA analysis, if sponsored.
Reading the report during a press conference, Solicitor General Tiawan Gongloe said there was no foul-play in the death of little Angel, but that met public dissension.
New Autopsy report
Liberia's Justice Minister, Cllr. Philip A.Z. Banks yesterday released the autopsy report of the late little Angel Tokpah conducted by a Ghanaian Pathologist with 32 years of experience and Prof. Dr. Josefa Jimenez Hernandez.
A second autopsy was ordered by the government of Liberia following public out cry that the Quayee postmortem report was faulty. The Ghanaian Pathologist, Prof. Dr. Hernandez was seconded to conduct a new autopsy.
According to the findings of the new autopsy on the embalmed body of Angel, the 13-year old girl was reportedly sexually abused and strangled to death.
In his concluding comments, Dr. Hernandez said: "The review of the postmortem report and the examination of the photographs in the process of the re-examination demonstrated evidence of violence."
The Ghanaian Pathologist also said: "This case describes morphological changes in the neck, respiratory system and the external genital. Alleging, she was sexually violated and strangled before the hanging."
Breaking the news to journalists yesterday, Cllr. Banks said some parts were taken off the body of little Angel but said those parts were later discovered at the Samuel Striker Funeral home.
The previous autopsy report said those parts were extracted for DNA test which was not done before the new autopsy was conducted. He said the study of the initial autopsy photographs indicated diffused scratches on the Suprapubic (private) area, and burns on the supero-anterior side of booth thighs.
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Meanwhile, police sources have disclosed that Mr. & Mrs. Hans Williams have been arrested and detained at the National Police Headquarters on Capitol Hill and are been interrogated.
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This is the old Liberia way of dealing with things. Either shape-up according to opinions of the powers that be or ship-out. We can no longer accept this business-as-usual process. There are two different autopsies; the details of the first and the reasons why it was deemed incredible are unknown. The second one based it''s conclusion of sexual assault on the examination of photographs. You would expect that a case in which the very lives of the accused hang in balance, and the life of young women taken either by suicide or foul play, would be based on more tangible... [Read Full Text]
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