Singer, daughter were violently killed, says pathologist

Lagos High Court in Igbosere yesterday heard that a Nigerian singer, Zainab Nielsen and her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Petra, died violently.

A consultant pathologist, Prof. John Obafunwa, told the court that a coroner required him to carry out an autopsy on the deceased because of the gruesome state their bodies were found.

The witness testified yesterday in the twin murder trial of a Dane, Peter Nielsen, who is alleged to have killed Zainab, 29, and Petra on April 5 at the couple’s Banana Island, Lagos home.

Nielsen, 53, was arraigned on June 13 on a two-count charge of murder, contrary to Section 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

Lagos Attorney-General (A-G) and Commissioner for Justice Kazeem Adeniji told Justice Mobolanle Okikiolu-Ighile that Nielsen killed Zainab and Petra about 3:45am at No. 4, Flat 17, Bella Vista Tower, Banana Island Ikoyi.

Nielsen denied the charge.

On Monday, Obafunwa told the judge that Zainab, alias Alizee, and Petra, died of head injuries and asphyxia (or suffocation) that were not self-inflicted.

He said the result of his post-mortem examination of mother and child suggested that they were killed when their noses and mouths were forcibly closed, which deprived them of oxygen.

Zainab, in particular, also suffered bruises around her head, which were consistent with “blunt force trauma that was not enough to cause any fracture.”

Obafunwa said evidence showed that she struggled to free herself of her killer’s grip, using her hands and nails.

The result of a DNA analysis of Zainab’s nail clippings, the witness added, revealed the presence of her DNA material and that of “another individual described as Peter”.

At the commencement of proceedings yesterday, the professor affirmed his testimony under cross examination by Nielsen’s counsel, Mr. Olasupo Shasore, SAN.

He said the coroner ordered the post mortem because the incident fell under the categories of reportable deaths.

According to him, reportable deaths are those that are suspicious, violent, suicide deaths, asphyxia deaths, surgical deaths or industrial deaths of poisoning.

Obafunwa said in this case, it was a violent death, following which the coroner ordered a post mortem examination of the deceased victims.

He maintained that his findings were consistent with the presumption that “there was an assailant in this case, that another person was involved.”

When Shasore, a former Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, asked if it was unusual for a husband’s DNA to be on the wife, the pathologist did not disagree.

Responding to another question, the witness said he couldn’t ascertain who died first because he wasn’t called on when the incident occurred.

When asked if he saw photographs of Zainab and Petra, when he visited the scene, the pathologist said: “I was shown some photographs that were taken by the police of when the bodies were discovered. In one of the photographs, I observed foam in the mouth of Petra”.

Justice Okikiolu-Ighile adjourned till November 29 for continuation of trial.