Rohde witness rips apart testimony

Forensic pathologist says scientific errors were made

JASON Rohde’s expert witness, forensic pathologist Dr Reggie Perumal, ripped through the testimony of the State’s own pathology expert, suggesting several instances in which he made crucial scientific errors or omissions.

Rohde is on trial for the murder of his wife Susan, who the State said he strangled before altering the crime scene to make it appear as if she committed suicide by hanging herself.

Susan was found hanging from the hook of a bathroom door in a hotel room, her neck tied with a electronic cord, on July 24, 2016.

Perumal said saliva dribbling from Susan’s mouth was a strong indication that a ligature was applied while she was alive. He said the saliva, which was wiped away by Rohde as he carried her body, was a classic feature of hanging.

Perumal also submitted a list of at least 10 examinations he did on Susan’s body which the State’s forensic pathologist, Dr Akmal Khan, neglected to do.

Khan, who did the initial autopsy, said the cause of death was consistent with manual strangulation and external airway obstruction. The State took it further and said Susan was smothered.

Perumal said Khan, in his opinion, did not observe the ligature mark at the back of the neck. He said Khan failed to note the U-shaped scar on Susan’s right knee and a scar under her right breast.

Perumal said Khan did not note bruises on Susan’s arms and a bruise on her left forearm.

Perumal said he found between two and five fractured ribs on the left and a fracture in the middle of her sternum.

“He didn’t do incisions through intercostal muscles. No facial flap dissection was done to show any pathology in tissue or to prove smothering,” said Perumal.

The expert defence pathologist said Khan did not note tongue haemorrhage as he did not perform tongue incisions.

“He didn’t do subsequent radiological investigations, and organs were not histologically evaluated,” he said.

The State pathologist testified that Susan suffered severe trauma to her lungs. Perumal disputed that and said a histology on the lungs was supposed to be done to support that statement.

Khan was also criticised on the error he made in calculating the time of death. The defence argued that this error played a huge role in Rohde being charged with murder.

Khan had initially said the time of death had a 95% certainty of having occurred at 5.40am. In cross-examination he conceded to have neglected to take into account other factors such as room temperature, sunlight from the bathroom window, etc.

It was agreed that the correct time of death was between 2.8 hours before or after 5.40am with a 5% chance that it could have fallen out of this time bracket

“Every day in medicine, doctors use medicine to determine dosage and administer drugs. This was a clinical set-up. An error made in calculations of the time of death could have had far-reaching outcomes in a living patient. And that outcome could have been deemed negligent,” said Perumal.

Perumal further quashed statement’s made by Khan’s senior forensic pathologist Dr Deidre Abrahams, which suggested that the court should not rely on Perumal’s report because he was hired by the defence.

“In our practice, credibility is the biggest single factor that we need. If we are not credible, we might as well close shop. I won’t sacrifice independence, credibility for any person or institution.

“To put it mildly, I find her statement outrageous,” Perumal said.