The death of former Chief Government Pathologist Jason Kaviti two weeks ago marked the end of a controversial professional life and a career that, at one point, brought the role of forensic medicine in crime investigation to the national stage.
Dr Kaviti came into the public eye during the inquiry into the death of Foreign Minister Dr Robert Ouko, whose charred remains had been found in the bush at Got Alila, near his Koru home, in 1990. The minister had been reported missing for three days.
The commission of inquiry led by retired Chief Justice Evan Gicheru assisted by Akilano Akiwumi and Richard Kwach had been sitting in Kisumu for 162 days when Dr Kaviti, who had conducted a post-mortem on the minister’s body, took the witness stand.
Dr Kaviti began by describing where the burnt body was found, how it couldn’t have been burnt twice, how the right leg was fractured by intense heat and how the pugilistic pose of the arms was as a result of the heat.
At the end of his presentation, Dr Kaviti said quietly: “I formed the opinion that he (the minister) had shot himself.”
His remarks seriously startled the commission, prompting Mr Akiwumi to interject sharply: “Oh! You did, did you? We nearly missed that. Why?”
Four other forensic pathologists who had appeared before the commission had all argued that the minister could only have been murdered.
From that point, things went downhill for Dr Kaviti. Under pressure from the commission, he said the only reason he had concluded the minister had committed suicide was because of a gun wound and the weapon found near the body.
“I said yesterday that assuming that somebody was right-handed, the entry wound be either on the right side where I found it and sometimes in the heart region and also under the pallet …”
Mr Kwach did not let him continue in this line, “Are you saying that if I am right-handed I can only be shot from the right if I have shot myself?”
The commissioner and lawyers appearing for various parties discredited his theory until he admitted that his suicide argument in the face of available evidence was not viable, leading to Mr Kwach’s famous quip: “Doctor, consider yourself lucky you are not consulted by live patients.”
A few days after Dr Ouko’s body was found, the government had issued a statement through KBC radio that implied the minister had committed suicide.
At the inquiry, the commission made it clear that, in its view, Dr Kaviti was attempting to put forward a theory that was in alignment with the government’s thinking.
Dr Kaviti’s performance helped to buttress the widely held perception that the pathologist’s first loyalty was to the system rather than to the truth.
Earlier, Dr Kaviti had been in the news during the inquest into the death of British tourist Julie Ward, whose remains were found in the Maasai Mara in September 1988.
The pathologist was on the spot for changing a post-mortem report by his junior, Dr Adel Shaker, that had indicated Julie’s leg and jawbones were cut using a sharp instrument.
The altered report indicated that cuts were made by blunt objects like the teeth of carnivorous animals.
Eventually, then Chief Magistrate Joseph Mango found that she died in the hands of human beings. “The animals are innocent,” he declared.
Experts in forensic pathology agree that the science is critical to the protection and defence of human rights, especially in crime investigations and prosecution.
“Any prosecutor will lose or win a case primarily based on whether there was professional, ethical and articulate documentation of injuries or a living survival of assault, torture, extra-judicial killings,” said Peter Kiama, the executive director of the Independent Medico Legal Unit.
Mr Kiama regards medical professionals, especially doctors, pathologists and clinical officers, as human rights defenders on the frontline for they are the ones who collect and preserve the primary evidence.
The then Central Province pathologist, Dr Moses Njue, resisted attempts by the prison authorities to cover up the killings.
The six suspects had been secretly buried at a public cemetery. After exhumation, Dr Njue conducted post-mortem that revealed that the six had been bludgeoned to death.
In an interview with the Sunday Nation this week, Dr Njue, who is the current Chief Government Pathologist, agreed that forensic pathology is important in determining causes of unnatural death.
“The pathologist determines the cause of death. His findings are crucial in the administration of justice. If his findings are flawed, justice will be compromised,” he said. “Dr Kaviti was many years my senior. The few times I met him, he came across as a brilliant man.”
Dr Njue says if a forensic pathologist is weak, the system can easily compromise him.
A pathologist should view himself as a human rights defender and activist. He must also be guided by utmost integrity.
He regrets that with all his knowledge, Dr Kaviti was left to waste away in obscurity.
The doctor, who had retired to his home in Makueni county, died on October 19 at the Nairobi Hospital after suffering several strokes.
