RP experts question S'pore maid findings
RP experts question S'pore maid findings
MANILA (Reuter): A Philippine forensic expert yesterday stood by his findings on the death of a Filipina maid in Singapore, saying an autopsy conducted there in 1991 was incomplete.
Dr. Maximo Reyes, who conducted an autopsy on the exhumed remains of murder victim Delia Maga last week, told an official inquiry he was sticking by his findings that the maid was severely beaten before she was strangled.
The forensic scientist from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was again summoned by the inquiry to answer comments from the Singapore doctors who did the autopsy on Maga shortly after her death in May, 1991.
Another Filipina maid, Flor Contemplacion, confessed to killing Maga and a three-year-old Singaporean boy four years ago.
Contemplacion, a 42-year-old mother of four, was hanged in Singapore on March 17. Her execution outraged many Filipinos who believe she was a victim of a frame-up.
This prompted President Fidel Ramos to order an inquiry to determine if Contemplacion was a victim of injustice.
On Saturday, Ramos said he wanted a third-party judgment on the conflicting reports of the NBI and that of Singapore on Maga's death.
Singapore's Institute of Science and Forensic Medicine said Maga could not have died by any cause other than asphyxiation caused by strangulation.
Singaporean experts said injuries cited by Filipino forensic scientists might be due to a normal reaction in a decomposing body.
Reyes suggested in his testimony on Thursday that Maga was severely beaten, as shown in the head injuries and four fractured ribs she suffered, before her killer strangled her with an elastic cord.
He expressed surprise that a Singaporean police autopsy report did not mention any of the chest and head injuries he said he found on Maga's remains.
"We do not dispute their findings that Delia Maga died of asphyxia by strangulation," Reyes said yesterday. "But we stand by our contention that the injuries were ante-mortem or inflicted before her death."
Human-rights lawyer Romeo Capulong questioned Ramos's decision to seek a third-party opinion on Maga's death, saying the NBI findings were reliable and conclusive.
"The NBI has broad experience and is credible. Why do we disregard that and get a third opinion?" said Capulong, the Contemplacion family's counsel.
Contemplacion's only daughter, Russel, appeared before the inquiry despite earlier refusals, and said her mother had told her and her brothers she was innocent of the crimes.
The children flew to Singapore shortly before Contemplacion was hanged and spent time with her in Changi Prison.