Time element complicating Oki case: Forensics expert<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A forensics expert told a court hearing
\nyesterday that after two years it would be difficult to determine
\nthe exact cause and time of death of the victims in the Los
\nAngeles triple murder case.<\/p>\n
Abdul Mun'im Idries, from the University of Indonesia's School
\nof Medicine, said a two-year-old corpse poses great difficulties
\nfor examiners. The university's top forensic expert had been
\nasked by lawyers to testify at the Central Jakarta District Court
\nfor 32-year-old Harnoko Dewantono, alias Oki. The defendant has
\nbeen charged with murdering three people in Los Angeles between
\nAugust 1991 and November 1992.<\/p>\n
The three victims were Suresh Mirchandani, an Indian who was
\nthe defendant's partner; Indonesian woman Gina Sutan Aswar; and
\nOki's younger brother Tri Harto Darmawan, alias Eri. Their bodies
\nwere found in August 1994 in a warehouse locker at a U-Haul
\nStorage facility in Los Angeles, after its contents had been
\nauctioned off. The locker had been neglected for months.<\/p>\n
Generally, he said, forensics experts can only determine with
\naccuracy a corpse's identity and possible causes of death. It is
\nmuch more difficult to determine when. After two years this task
\nis made even more difficult, he said.<\/p>\n
"It is difficult to say if Eri died after the other two
\nvictims," said Abdul Mun'im after examining forensic reports by
\nexperts from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).<\/p>\n
In previous court sessions, the LAPD's forensic experts had
\nsuggested that the time of Eri's death was later due to the
\ncondition of his heart and lungs, which were heavier than the
\nother victims'. But, explained Abdul Mun'im, because Eri had been
\nmore physically fit, this could explain why his lungs and heart
\nwere found in a stronger state.<\/p>\n
Detectives and ballistic experts were also called to testify
\nat hearings last year.<\/p>\n
Regarding the Indian victim, Abdul Mun'im cited the LAPD's
\nforensic reports, which said that Mirchandani had his chest cut
\nopen and his lungs and heart taken out while he was still alive.<\/p>\n
However, Abdul Mun'im said that Mirchandani was clinically
\ndead when his chest was opened -- meaning that the brain was dead
\neven though the kidneys were still functioning. He was responding
\nto lawyers' questions about whether or not the victim was alive
\nor dead when cut open.<\/p>\n
Abdul Mun'im said it was a fact that the victim's chest had
\nbeen split open as blood remained in the wall of his chest. But
\nthis does not mean that Mirchandani was still alive, or that his
\nheart was still pumping, as Los Angeles experts had suggested.
\nAbdul Mun'im then suggested that the blood might not have come
\nfrom the heart's arteries.<\/p>\n
The Indian's body also had a bullet hole in it, but Abdul
\nMun'im said that it could not be determined from which direction
\nthe shots came from.<\/p>\n
LAPD detective Ted Ball told the court earlier that he
\nbelieved that Suresh had been shot from a short distance in a car
\ndriven by Oki.<\/p>\n
Given the difficult examination of the bodies, Abdul Mun'im
\nsaid a stronger basis for determining the circumstances of death
\ncould only come from witnesses. (07)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/time-element-complicating-oki-case-forensics-expert-1447893297",
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