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Glen View 29: State closes case

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Cuban forensic pathologist Gabriel Aguero Gonzalez yesterday told the High Court that from his examination, the late police Inspector Petros Mutedza, who was killed in Glen View, Harare, two years ago, was struck by an object.

Cuban forensic pathologist Gabriel Aguero Gonzalez yesterday told the High Court that from his examination, the late police Inspector Petros Mutedza, who was killed in Glen View, Harare, two years ago, was struck by an object.

Report by Charles Laiton

Gonzalez’s testimony marked the close of the State case as the defence hinted it would make an application for discharge on March 25.

Gonzalez told judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu that his examination of the late Mutedza’s body showed that he had died as a result of a depressed skull fracture.

“According to this case, the deceased was struck by a stone on the left side of his forehead,” Gonzalez said in his evidence in chief.

Asked by prosecutor Edmore Nyazamba why he had come to that conclusion, Gonzalez said the injury the late Mutedza sustained was consistent with that of a thrown object and nothing else.

“According to my observation, I concluded that the head injuries sustained were severe and resulted in brain damage which caused his death,” Gonzalez responded.

Gonzalez further said it was not possible that the type of injuries Mutedza sustained could have been as a result of falling from a moving vehicle.

He also told the court that when he further examined Mutedza’s body he discovered that it had bruises on the forehead, a wound in the right eye, bruises on the left hand, swollen left side above the ear and swollen left eye.

Gonzalez said apart from the said injuries all Mutedza’s body parts were intact contrary to the defence’s assertion that he had a missing tongue and private parts.

The MDC-T activists’ lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa subjected Gonzalez to intense cross-examination and accused him of carrying out an incomplete post mortem.

“Your report is incomplete because you relied on what the police told you . . . your conclusion of the examination is worthless. You did not conduct proper investigation because of your limited knowledge of the English language,” Mtetwa said.

But, Gonzalez maintained he conducted a proper examination and was expert in his own right hence he was the only forensic pathologist in the country at the moment.