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

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 microscope, retractable probe, and X-ray 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 Ampatuan Jr., during the cross examination of Cabrera.

Fortun also pointed out “inconsistencies" in the original autopsy report made by Cabrera and the final report he submitted to court. He said the 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.

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.
source: gmanews.tv/