- Rodents ate deceased’s body – Mortuary attendants
A fresh trouble is currently brewing in Onipanu, Idanre, Ondo State, over the alleged mutilation of the corpse of the late Justina Effiong, a pregnant woman whose corpse was allegedly seized for almost two months by leaders of the community.
The Point had, about three weeks ago, reported that the corpse of the late Effiong was seized by the community leaders after a tree fell and killed her at the Onipanu area of the town.
The leaders had claimed that, in line with tradition of the community, the remains of the deceased pregnant woman must be buried under the tree which crushed her to death.
Our correspondent, however, gathered that a fresh crisis has erupted between the community leaders, mortuary attendants and Effiong’s kinsmen from Akwa Ibom, who also live in the town, over the alleged mutilation of the pregnant woman’s corpse kept in the morgue of the General Hospital in Idanre.
It was learnt that the discovery was made after police authorities in the state intervened in the matter and asked the community leaders to release the allegedly detained corpse.
The case, which has been generating acrimony between Akwa Ibom youths and the community, took a new dimension when the youths and the family of the deceased demanded for reasons behind the mutilation of the corpse, which had been in their custody for weeks.
An Akwa Ibom indigene, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent that the family of the deceased and Calabar youths had invited the police to investigate and unravel the mystery behind the alleged mutilation of the corpse in the mortuary.
“We need to know how some body parts of the corpse are missing. When it was brought to the mortuary, it was intact, and I don’t know why they will now release her to us with all what we saw on her. We seriously need explanations on this. This is a woman that was killed by them, and now, look at what they have done to her when we didn’t allow them to use her for their ritual”, he said.
The lawyer to the family of the deceased pregnant woman, Kubiat Ikpidungise, told our correspondent that the attitude of the community leaders over the matter had become suspicious.
Ikpidungise, therefore, urged the police to quickly commence an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the alleged mutilation of the late pregnant woman’s corpse while in the mortuary.
“We got the near decomposed body of the late Justina and took it to the General Hospital, Akure, after police asked them to release her to us. It was at the General hospital that we discovered that the body had been mutilated. It was first discovered by the mortuary attendants at the General Hospital who raised the alarm that the body had been mutilated.
“Immediately, we called the attention of the police to it, and they took note of it and also took pictures,” the lawyer said.
She added that the family also resolved to embalm the corpse for two weeks before taking her to her home town for proper burial.
“We couldn’t accept such corpse for onward journey to her family. The trip to Ukwok village, her home town, is close to 12 hours, and with the state in which she was released, it will be so embarrassing on arrival.
“We told them, among other things, before their lawyer, Agbede, that the corpse should be re-embalmed for at least two weeks and the autopsy carried out.
“We also asked the police to investigate the mutilation of the corpse at the General Hospital, Alade-Idanre, and give us their findings. If Owa of Idanre and his people didn’t detain and confine the body for ritual purposes at the morgue, this ugly incident won’t have occurred. The sight of the woman is pathetic, frightening and annoying.
“In life, she was left under the tree and in death, her body was kept outside to decompose before being taken inside some few days after. We need an explanation from the mortuary attendants and community leaders of Idanre,” Ikpidungise said.
On the persons alleged to have caused the death of the mother of three, Kubiat said, “We have finally seen the two suspects who fell the tree on Justina. Police have arrested them, and we confirmed their arrest when they were brought to us.”
Meanwhile, the community leaders of Onipanu Idanre and the Idanre morgue attendants, who have been arrested over the alleged mutilation of the corpse, have claimed that the deceased’s body was eaten up by rodents in the mortuary.
Our correspondent learnt that the mortuary attendants were arrested immediately the alarm was raised by the attendants at the Akure General Hospital mortuary, where the corpse was taken after it was released from Idanre on the orders of the police.
“Police have arrested the two morgue attendants at Idanre and Olu of Onipan for questioning on the mutilation issue. The attendants and the Olu insisted that it was rats that ate her up. They claimed that it was not the deceased alone that the rats ate. They claimed that rats normally eat corpses in the morgue because of its poor condition and its location close to the bush”, another source close to the deceased’s husband said.
Speaking on the suspicion of Idanre’s traditional chiefs over the case, a woman activist, Benson Favour, said that the Akwa Ibom youths within the community suspected the move by the Olu of Onipanu, Claudius Ademehintoye, who allegedly ordered the attendants at the Idanre General Hospital Morgue to leave the corpse in the open while covering it with black tarpaulin.
“I learnt that no explanation was given by the Olu or the attendants concerning the purpose of the three days intermittent visits to the morgue and covering of the body with black tarpaulin. But we are aware it was done on the Owa’s order.
“But when one of the chief attendants at the morgue checked the body and discovered the mutilation on it with flies and maggots coming out from its lower parts, he ordered that the body be taken inside the morgue, saying that the Owa had no right to stop them from releasing the body to the family or the police,” Favour said.
Meanwhile our correspondent gathered from the deceased’s husband, Sunday Effiong, that one of the suspects arrested over the death of his pregnant wife, had agreed to pay compensation to his family.
“Aye has finally agreed to pay compensation, which is payment for the transport fare to Akwa Ibom and also be responsible for the burial rites in our village,” he said.
Sunday also confirmed that two of the morgue attendants at Idanre had been arrested by the police, “for the torn parts of my late wife.”
The president of Akwa Ibom youths in Ondo State, Akpan Young, said they had resolved to take the matter to court on the basis that the leaders of the Onipanu community detained the corpse of their kinswoman without any cogent reason.
Young also charged the police not to relent in their efforts to investigate and punish the mortuary attendants who allegedly mutilated the corpse to serve as a deterrent to others.
Efforts by our correspondent to confirm the allegation leveled against the traditional rulers of Idanre proved abortive.
