Maloney family ‘examined body’
RASHIDA FRANCIS, an employee of the Government Forensics Laboratory, testified Monday that the Maloney family examined I’Akobi Maloney’s body when they should not have done so.
Francis told the Coroner’s Court that she was at the Government Forensics Centre when she spoke to Station Sergeant Morris on the telephone about Maloney’s body. At that time the station sergeant told her that Maloney’s mother was at the Crab Hill Police Station.
She was surprised when about an hour later, Marguerita Maloney turned up at the laboratory saying she came to identify the body. However, she informed her that she would have to bring her son’s identification card and hers as well.
She said Maloney left the centre and returned later accompanied by her son’s father and step-father. She said that while people were not permitted to examine bodies at the lab, when the deceased’s father unzipped the body bag and the family proceeded to examine the body, she did not protest.
“I felt as if I was between a rock and a hard place for me to tell her not to touch it when she was grieving,” she explained.
She recalled hearing the family mention a hole at the back of I’Akobi’s head but said while she saw fluid at the back of the head she did not examine the body at that time.
“I didn’t want them to touch him but I felt as if I told them they can’t touch him, it would have exacerbated their grief,” Francis told the enquiry.
Forensics Scientist Colin Winskog told the court there should be no tampering of the body since they usually tested the body for DNA samples and fibres. He added that people could see the body without unzipping the body bag. However, he stated that he never received any reports that Maloney’s body had been dealt with in an inappropriate manner.
Questioned by Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris, Winskog said he never contacted her about the Maloney family requesting a different post mortem being carried out, neither did he receive any request while doing the post mortem that he should stop it. He further stated that he never told the deceased’s relatives that the coroner refused to stop the post mortem.
Tags: body bag, Colin Winskog, Coroner's Court, Crab Hill, DNA samples, Faith Marshall-Harris, fibres, Forensics Laboratory, indentify body, Marguerita Maloney, post mortem, Rashida Francis, Station Sergeant Morris