American doctor, Dr Anthony Vinson, who conducted the post-mortem of US-Pakistani woman Vajiha Swati, told a court in a video link statement that Swati was killed in a brutal manner after being brutally tortured.
When Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majuka resumed hearing in the case, recording his statement from the Pakistani embassy in Washington, Dr Vinson said that he conducted the post-mortem of Vajiha Swati in the US on January 9, 2022. The American FBI team gave him the decomposed body of the victim in a container, he said adding that “I identified the deceased Vajiha Swati through fingerprints”. During the post-mortem, he said, it was revealed that the victim was stabbed with daggers on her left shoulder and torso due to which her clothes were torn and there was blood on the clothes.
The doctor also said that he had also recorded his statement to the investigation team of the murder case on August 4, 2022, via video link from Washington.
During the cross-examination by the lawyer of the accused, the American doctor said that it was wrong to say that he prepared the post-mortem report illegally.
“I conducted the post-mortem on merit, maintaining the traditions of medical and judicial legal requirements. It is also wrong to say that I did the post-mortem without any legal authority,” he said
Prior to his statement, Sajjad Haider, a senior diplomat at the Pakistani embassy in Washington, confirmed to the court about the availability of the American doctor.
The doctor duly took the oath and recorded the statement.
After the statement of the American doctor, the recording of statements of all witnesses in this most important case has been completed. The court has issued notices to all accused to record their statements on Thursday, November 3.
All the six accused, namely ex-husband of the victim Rizwan Habib, father-in-law Huriytullah, Rasheed Ahmed, Zahid, Sultan and the accused Zahida, who washed the crime scene, were also present in the courtroom. The ex-husband called the victim to Rawalpindi to settle property matters worth billions of rupees.
The victim came to Rawalpindi on October 16, 2022 and the same night the accused killed her in a brutal manner in the Morgah police station area.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 3rd, 2022.
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