By Chukwudi Nweje and Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
An autopsy by the Federal Capital Territory Police Command has contradicted an earlier report that Miss Keren Akpagher, student at Premiere Academy, Lugbe, Abuja, may have been raped.
The interim autopsy report released by the Nigeria Police Force on Wednesday, September 8 showed that the victim who died at Queens Hospital, Wuse, Abuja where she was admitted died of complications related to high blood sugar.
An earlier medical report from Queens Hospital, Wuse, Abuja, had suggested that she died of sepsis, as a result of a ‘decayed condom’ found in her, which had raised concerns that she might have been a victim of sexual assault.
The report had said there was “copious thick milky discharge and expression of rubbery material (condom) from the vagina when (the doctor) attempted to pass a urethral catheter.”
However, the autopsy report released by the police and backed by two private consultant pathologists, found that the deceased’s vagina “was empty and contained no pus or any foreign material.”
The autopsy said the “Urogenital system, comprising of the vulva, associated internal organs such as the vagina, uterine cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes together with the right and left ovaries as well as the right and left kidneys together with their respective adrenal glands and the left and right ureters, were dissected out together and examined. The vagina was about 9.5 cm long and 8 cm at its widest point, near its vault. It was empty and contained no pus or any foreign material.”
The report went on to add that “the mucosal lining displayed the normal and usual transverse ridges and the lining was smooth and clean. It displayed no lacerations or excoriations of any sort.”
The post-mortem also examined the uterine cervix and found that “it was conical and closed. Its external opening (external os) was tightly closed and round. The covering is clean, displaying no lacerations or excoriations. The canal of the cervix (endocervical canal) is empty and contained no foreign body material. The internal opening (internal os) was unremarkable.”
Summary of autopsy fingered severe high blood sugar of 435.6 mg/dl, triggering acute cerebral oedema, acute pulmonary oedema, and acute liver congestion as the cause of death, and not sepsis, as claimed by Queens Hospital.
Authorities of Premiere Academy had always insisted that Keren’s blood sugar was effectively managed while she was in school. The Matron of the school clinic, Grace Salami, disclosed that the deceased’s blood sugar level was 114 mg/dl and normal on the day she exited the school, leading to concerns that she didn’t take her daily insulin shots when went home two days before her hospitalisation and eventual death.
Premiere Academy has stated that the result of the autopsy is consistent with the position of the school that late Keren died from the mismanagement of her diabetic condition while at home.
Meanwhile, leader of the Coalition of Gender Based Violence Responders and Executive Director of Men Against Rape Foundation, Lemmy Ughegbe, has accused the FCT Police Command of undermining the process by giving advance information to the school whereas it refused to give same to the family of the deceased.
This is even as Mrs. Vivien Akpagher, mother of the deceased has lamented that all she wants is a closure to her daughter’s death.
“I have not slept since the 22nd of June, 2021 when my daughter died. I just want closure. I want the police to give us justice. I am tired of all these games.”
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, Ughegbe said no amount of threat or defamation and court would cow the Coalition of GBV Responders from seeking justice for Keren.