'They forced rubber with weed in his throat at the morgue' – Family of Shadrach Arloo rejects 'fishy' police autopsy

Family of Shadrach Arloo has rejected the autopsy results from the police which claimed that the 32- year-old man died from asphyxiation.

According to the police, an autopsy conducted on the deceased in the presence of his family members confirmed he died from medical causes, as the pathologist retrieved from his throat, eight zipped bags containing dry leaves suspected to be narcotic drugs tied in a piece of black polythene bag.

The retrieved substances, according to the police, tested positive for cannabis when submitted for forensic examination in the presence of all the witnesses from the family of the deceased.

But the sister of the deceased, Ms Perpetual Didier, has rejected the report.

Speaking to Class News’ Nasaria Abdul Rahman in an interview, she said the police conducted the autopsy against the wish of the family and are, therefore, demanding an independent autopsy.

Ms Didier explained: “The time they [police] gave us yesterday [Tuesday, 7 Feb] was too early so my doctor couldn’t come; the police gave us a different doctor, my doctor could come on Wednesday [8 Feb], but the police were insisting and I was not around, so, one of the family members called me and I told her that she should insist the family does not agree, so, they should wait for our doctor".

“They said he swallowed rubber with weed… but they could have opened his mouth and placed the rubber with weed in his throat when they brought him from West Hills Mall because they can do it; they can push it down his throat. If it was in his stomach, that means he swallowed it himself but if they are saying it is in his throat, that means somebody could have put it in there.”

Ms Didier said the family is rejecting the autopsy report from the police and going to demand a new autopsy.

She stated that they are demanding video evidence of how everything happened that led to her brother’s death.

“We want the West Hills Mall to provide us videos of all that happened: how my brother entered the mall, how the police contacted him, how the police tried to bully him, they should show us evidence of when he was swallowing that rubber…we believe somebody forced the thing down his throat because the corpse was not with the family, so, someone could sneak inside the morgue and put that thing in his throat,” she said.

“We are against the police but our brother’s body was with the police, how?” she quizzed.

In her view, “something fishy is going on and they [police] must provide us [with] video evidence of when he was swallowing. If someone can swallow a rubber with eight bags of weed, they will tell us. We want to see real evidence and not what the doctor is saying because the doctor is from the police.”