Professor's autopsy report not yet available
Although the post-mortem report has not yet been completed, Namibia's top forensic scientist believes it is likely that Dr Ayetuoma Cyril Ogbokor did commit suicide.
Ogbokor (56), a professor at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust), allegedly committed suicide at his flat in Klein Windhoek on 5 August.
The police stated in a crime report the next day that the Nigerian national had shot himself in the chest with his pistol. No suicide note was found.
Ogbokor's family in Nigeria alleged that the police report was a “cover-up” and that the professor had been murdered.
A relative, who identified himself only as Roy, told the Sahara Reporters website: “With reliable information at our disposal, we, the Ogbokor family, are convinced that our brother and breadwinner was brutally murdered in cold blood and we are demanding justice.
“There was no iota of truth in the [police] report. We smelt a conspiracy in the report just in the bid to cover up what actually happened to our brother.”
The chief spokesperson of the Namibian Police, Deputy Commissioner Edwin Kanguatjivi, said yesterday that the police were still waiting for the post-mortem report.
He added that the head of the National Forensic Science Institute, Dr Paul Ludik, thinks it was suicide.
Kanguatjivi said it was evident that the gun had been fired very close to the body.
“Ludik explained that there have been many suicides in which people did not shoot themselves in the head, but rather in the chest because they did not want their face to be deformed.”
The fact that Ogbokor had been shot in the chest was one of the arguments made by the family why it could not have been suicide.
The police spokesman had said earlier that gunshot residue on Ogbokor's hands would prove that he had fired the fatal shot. He could not say yesterday whether this forensic examination had been completed.
Kanguatjivi said once the autopsy report was completed the police would release a full statement.
ELLANIE SMIT
Ogbokor (56), a professor at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust), allegedly committed suicide at his flat in Klein Windhoek on 5 August.
The police stated in a crime report the next day that the Nigerian national had shot himself in the chest with his pistol. No suicide note was found.
Ogbokor's family in Nigeria alleged that the police report was a “cover-up” and that the professor had been murdered.
A relative, who identified himself only as Roy, told the Sahara Reporters website: “With reliable information at our disposal, we, the Ogbokor family, are convinced that our brother and breadwinner was brutally murdered in cold blood and we are demanding justice.
“There was no iota of truth in the [police] report. We smelt a conspiracy in the report just in the bid to cover up what actually happened to our brother.”
The chief spokesperson of the Namibian Police, Deputy Commissioner Edwin Kanguatjivi, said yesterday that the police were still waiting for the post-mortem report.
He added that the head of the National Forensic Science Institute, Dr Paul Ludik, thinks it was suicide.
Kanguatjivi said it was evident that the gun had been fired very close to the body.
“Ludik explained that there have been many suicides in which people did not shoot themselves in the head, but rather in the chest because they did not want their face to be deformed.”
The fact that Ogbokor had been shot in the chest was one of the arguments made by the family why it could not have been suicide.
The police spokesman had said earlier that gunshot residue on Ogbokor's hands would prove that he had fired the fatal shot. He could not say yesterday whether this forensic examination had been completed.
Kanguatjivi said once the autopsy report was completed the police would release a full statement.
ELLANIE SMIT
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