Liberia: Pathologists Release Autopsy Reports

By Patrick N. Mensah, Maryland county

Government pathologists have released results of two separate autopsies conducted on the remains of the late Anthony Tiaka and eight-year-old Levi Koffa in Maryland County, Southeast Liberia, following their suspicious deaths respectively in July 2022.

The late Anthony Tiaka, a student at the Tubman University in Harper City, Maryland county, was found dead in his bedroom in Pleebo on 3 July 2022 with bruises and cuts on his penis. He died of natural causes, according to the autopsy reports. Little Levi’s Koffa died as a result of drowning, the results say.

The results signed by chief pathologist Dr. Benedict Kolee, detailed that the pathological cause of death of the late Tiaka was a result of right pain lobar pneumonia and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

He continues that based on available evidence, the manner of death of late Anthony Tiaka was natural, while Levi’s Koffa pathological cause of death was consistent with drowning, maintaining that the available evidence shows the manner of the two deaths are natural and accidental.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kolee has asked members of the public or family members, who are dissatisfied with his findings to challenge the autopsy results by hiring a private pathologist to carry out another autopsy on the bodies.

The late Anthony Tiaka was discovered dead in his bedroom on July 3, 2022, with bruises and gashes on his forehead, penis pierced with a sharp instrument, and bled profusely from other parts of his body, while Little Levi’s Koffa, who reportedly left his parents’ home for school on Monday, July 18, 2022, in Harper but never returned, lifeless body was discovered drowned in Lake Shepherd on Wednesday, July 20th.

The late Tiaka was a senior student of the Williams V.S. Tubman University in Maryland, while little Levi’s Koffa was a student of an elementary school in Harper City.

The autopsies on the late Anthony Tiaka and Levi’s Koffa were carried out by two Liberian pathologists, Dr. Benedict Kolee and Dr. Zoebon Kpadeh, on Monday and Tuesday (August 1-2, 2022), respectively.

However, family of the late Levi’s Koffa appeared on a local community radio station in Harper district on Wednesday, August 31, 2022, and observed that the autopsy report provided by Dr. Benedict B. Kolee contains lots of irregularities and unjustifiable questions.

They argued that the government pathologists claim their son’s death is consistent with drowning that is accidental.

According to the family, at no time their son had ever gone swimming, contending that if the cause of death is consistent with drowning, the body of the late Levi Koffa would have decayed.

They expressed regret and called on Superintendent George Prowd to decentralize his leadership ability, if Maryland County must move forward, noting that throughout their bereavement, Superintendent Prowd only visited them twice.

On the other hand, family of the late Anthony Tiaka is yet to publicly comment after the autopsy result.https://thenewdawnliberia.com/civil-society-worries-over-delay-in-autopsies-result/ Editing by Jonathan Browne

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