By Sainabou Sambou
In the ongoing High Court trial for the murder of Leonard Dominic, a British national allegedly stabbed to death in Brufut, Ghana Town, a pathologist testified that the victim suffered massive internal bleeding from a stab wound that pierced his heart.
Justice Omar Cham presided over the proceedings, with state prosecutor MD Mballow leading the case against the accused. Samuel Ade represented the first accused.
Ousman Leigh, a pathologist formerly with Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH) and now at AQA Medical Diagnostics Company Ltd., took the witness stand. He described conducting the postmortem examination of Dominic a the magistrate’s request.
Leigh explained that the examination began with positive identification of the body in the presence of the investigating officer, the Crime Records Officer, and the Senior Mortuary Technician. “We examined the body externally first, followed by an internal examination, and documented all findings,” he told the court.
Externally, the deceased had 14 stab wounds to the chest, plus additional injuries to the knee, right jaw, left shoulder, and left shoulder blade. Internally, Leigh found multiple stab injuries between the ribs, significant blood accumulation in the left chest cavity, and a collapsed left lung.
The pathologist concluded that the cause of death was massive internal bleeding from a stab wound to the sternum that penetrated the heart. “The deceased lost about 39% of his total blood volume, which was sufficient to cause death,” Leigh stated. He noted his 17 years of experience conducting postmortems.
Under cross-examination by defense counsel Samuel Ade, Leigh acknowledged that the postmortem report did not specify when the body arrived at the mortuary, but insisted this omission did not undermine the accuracy of his findings. He added that while decomposition can complicate determining the cause of death in some cases, stab wounds often remain identifiable even after a month.
Leigh also confirmed issuing the medical certificate of death, stating that Leonard Dominic died on 22 October 2024.
The charges stem from an alleged incident on 19 October 2024 at Brufut, Ghana Town, Kombo North. Ibra Foli faces a single count of murder under Section 187 of the Criminal Code, accused of stabbing Dominic multiple times in the chest and neck “with malice aforethought,” resulting in his death.
Alfusainey Jallow, Dawda Sonko, and Malick Njie face two counts each as accessories after the fact under Section 202 of the Criminal Code. Prosecutors allege they assisted Foli in concealing the crime after it was committed.
The trial was adjourned until 12:00 PM tomorrow for further proceedings.
