Foday Moriba Conteh: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 29 November 2025:
Mohamed Sillah Bangura, a concerned Sierra Leonean citizen, has written to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice expressing deep concern over what he describes as “serious shortcomings” in the country’s autopsy procedures conducted at the Connaught Hospital mortuary.
In a letter dated 24th November 2025, Mohamed Sillah Bangura said Sierra Leone’s current pathological practices, carried out under the supervision of the country’s sole consultant pathologist, Dr. Simeon Owizz Koroma, fall far below internationally accepted standards.
He warned that the situation poses significant human rights, legal and justice challenges, particularly in murder and manslaughter trials where autopsy findings are crucial. Mohamed Sillah Bangura referenced the controversial autopsy conducted on the late Sia Fatu Kamara on 16th August 2025, which formed the basis for the murder charge against her boyfriend, Abdul Kpaka, now standing trial before Justice Alfred Ganda.
He urged the Attorney General to review the autopsy report and the procedure used in producing it.
According to Mohamed Sillah Bangura, his research suggests that a comprehensive forensic autopsy typically requires three to four weeks and involves advanced equipment such as MRI or CT scan machines, X-rays, microscopes and laboratory analysis of tissues and organs.
However, he alleges that autopsies performed at Connaught Hospital are usually completed “within one or two hours,” with results produced immediately without the use of any advanced forensic equipment. “Corpses are merely laid on a table, torn open and after just eye observation, a result is produced,” he wrote. “No appropriate autopsy result can be produced without the required machines or tools.”
He noted that Section 23(2) of the 2021 Medical Examiner’s Act states that the autopsy findings of the Chief Medical Examiner should serve as prima facie evidence; a standard he argues must be “beyond reproach.”
Mohamed Sillah Bangura said flaws in autopsy procedures have repeatedly complicated murder prosecutions, often resulting in cases being reduced to manslaughter or dismissed altogether.
He warned that poor-quality autopsy reports could wrongfully convict innocent individuals or allow perpetrators to walk free. Mohamed Sillah Bangura urged the Attorney General to take immediate action, including: Collaborating with the Ministry of Health to establish a fully equipped, modern forensic autopsy facility.
Training and deploying multiple qualified pathologists across the country, reviewing all cases charged solely on the basis of Dr. Koroma’s autopsy reports and conducting further review of past convictions dependent exclusively on such reports.
He acknowledged the recent refurbishment of the Connaught Hospital mortuary and the introduction of an X-ray machine for the first time, describing it as “proof that past procedures did not meet required standards,” but insisted that more comprehensive reforms were needed.
Mohamed Sillah Bangura expressed confidence that the Attorney General’s ongoing justice-sector reforms, combined with human rights background, would ensure the matter receives the urgency it deserves.
The letter was coped to the Minister of Health, Chief Justice, Inspector General of Police, Human Rights Commission, Legal Aid Board, Bar Association, the US Embassy, British High Commission, the EU and other institutions.
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