Ummukulsum’s murder: Chinese counsel accuses the government of providing phony autopsy

In the ongoing trial for the alleged murder of Ummukulsum Sani Buhari (Ummita) by her Chinese lover, Frank Geng Quarong, there was a small amount of drama during the witness hearings that were resumed. The lawyer for the defense said that the lawyer for the state gave the court a fake autopsy of the victim.

Barrister Muhammad Dan-Azumi, the defense lawyer, argued on Wednesday that the whole spoken autopsy report from the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital in Kano, which confirmed the victim’s death and was accepted by the court as Exhibit “D,” was not valid.

Dan-Azumi said that the document is not the same as the original copy of the report that was found, turned in in black and white, and printed on letterhead paper from the hospital.

“This report is coming 90 days after the incident occurred,” he stated. “I personally sought to obtain it earlier, but the hospital has not responded to date.”

Earlier, the court started hearing from the final prosecution witness, Police Constable Aminu Halilu of the Dorayi Babba Police Division. He talked about what happened, from how the police got involved to how the hospital certified the body and gave it to the victim’s family to bury.

Halilu continued by saying that, after giving the body to be buried, he visited the suspect at the police station to hear his version of events.

“I visited Mr. Frank at the police station again. I encouraged him to bring his family, but he responded that they were in China and that he would call a friend who worked at the BBY Textile Company instead. He called him on the phone, but he took some time to show up.

Later, he gave me permission to record his statement in front of his family, and he then began to describe what transpired between them from the time they first met in 2019 until September 16, 2022.

“I read his statement to him after that, and he understood and signed.” I then took him to my boss, Saifullahi Bello, who read the statement to him and got the man to agree that what was written down was accurate.

He confirmed that Mustapha and Fatima Zubairu, two witnesses, were also given a copy of the statement. After he visited the murder scene at Janbulo Quarters in the Kano metropolis and wrote up the case diary and the evidence (a sharp knife), the case was sent to the state’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for further investigation.

The statement of the suspect, which the court admitted as Exhibit C and the police constable recognized, was initially offered as evidence by the prosecution team, led by Kano State Director of Public Prosecution, Aisha Muhammad. But the defendant argued that he was forced to say what he did because he was being threatened, handcuffed, and put in a cell.

Therefore, the defense attorney had requested a “trial within a trial.” However, the court claimed that it had been abolished in the ACJL, citing Section 38(7) of the ACJL, and admitted the statement as Exhibit C.

After that, Justice Sunusi Ado Ma’aji adjourned the case until December 23, 2023, closing the hearing of the prosecution’s attorney.