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Two judicial post-mortems that went awry 1870 & 1908

P. Cassar

ABSTRACT: The first instance of an exhumation of a cadaver for a judicial post-mortem took place in 1870 in connection with a murder case. Knowledge, on the part of the pathologist, of the scene of the crime and of the events leading to the murder are important as they may suggest to the pathologist what to look for in the corpse, but only a thorough autopsy may reveal the cause of death. This is possible even aftcr exhumation of a decomposed cadaver.

CorresjJu//de//ce: Dr P. Cassar, "Sr. Luke", Pope Alexander VII Juncr. Balzan,

KeYlI'u,-ds: exhumation. fracture of cervical vertebrae in judicial hanging. fragment of weapon found in the exhumed cadaver

The case of Michele Schembri Findings at the second autopsy

Michele Schelll bri, a youth of about eighteen years The findings at this second examination were as was murdered on the I st June 1870. His body was found follows:- (a) a skull wound made with a pointed and in a field at Marsa concealed under bundles of corn cutting instrument penetrating through the temporal bone seven days after the killing. It was in an advanced state into the cavity of the skull to an extent that might have of decomposition, the fleshy parts being "almost entirely caused an incision in the involucra of the cortical part of destroyed by rats and other vermin". Carmelo Camilleri, the brain; (b) a fracture of the occipital bone; (c) a nicknamed Midneb, frol11 Birkirkara and about twenty­ wound in the frontal bone with the loss of a portion of it; eight years of age, was arrested and convicted of the (d) two ribs broken; (e') a portion of a knife stuck in the wilful murder of Schembri, Her Majesty's Criminal temporal bone that "could but with difficulty be Court sentenced him to death on the 19th August 1870, extracted with a forceps"; (f) "other minor lesions". the execution taking place at KOI'din on the 24th of the The second panel of cloctors came to the conclusion same month. that the wound penetrating the skull was insufficient to account for the death and thar the latter must have been The inquest and its aftermath caused "by commotion and contusion of the brain in consequence of blows gi ven with tremendous force", The inquest was held immediately after the discovery Circumstantial evidence pointed to Carmelo Camilleri of the body but two medical practitioners, Or Guiseppe as the killer though the moti ve of the murder was not Montanaro and Or Felice Mifsud Bonnici, appointed to conclusively proved. The unanimous verdict of the jury earry out the post-mortem examination "pronounced it declared Carmelo Camilleri guilty and he was sentenced impossible to detect by a post-mortem the cause of the to death and hanged. man's death". On the strength of this statement, the After hearing the sentence the accused admitted his Magistrate. Or. Antonio Zammit, allowed the interment guilt, He said that he had struck the victim with a knife of the body; but the matter was not allowed to end there. which broke in the process and then he tried to cut the victim's throat with the broken knife. The knife was Exhumation never found, The throat lesions could not be discovered at the second post-mortem as the soft tissues had One of the Police Physicians (District Medical perished through decomposition 2. Officers) of Valletta. Or. P. Grillet, felt uneasy about the handling of the case when the circumstances surrounding The case of Antonio Azzopardi it came to his knowledge. He held the view that a regular post-mortem exam ination shou Id have been Antonio Azzopardi. nicknamed Ninu Xkora, a man of carried out under any circumstances. Or. Antonio Ghio, strong physique from Hamrun, was sentenced to death the Chief Police Physician (Chief Government Medical on the 19th October 1908 for the murder of his brother­ Officer) supported Or. P. Grillet and an application was in-law, The death sentence was carried out on the 27th made to the Magistrate who directed that the body October. The bocly was buried in the prison cemetry should be exhumed and an autopsy be performed. The allegedly after "a cursory medical examination soon new panel of doctors consisted of Or. Antonio Ghio, Or. after the hanging"; but the story of his execution was not Salvatore Pisani, Or. Giuseppe Galea and Or. P. Grillet yet over for there was persistent rumour among the together with the other two medical men appointed at the public that Azzopardi had been cut down and buried original inquest I. when he was still alive 3 40 P. Cassar

Suspicion that Azzopardi's was an Depositions of witnesses instance of apparent death Or. Giuseppe Caruana Scicluna stated that he was Or. Peter Paul Agius expressed this suspicion in his present at the execution and that he did not notice "any newspaper Risorgimento ,Uld denounced "the casual irregularity in the proceedings. The death of the manner" in which the body of Azzopardi was disposed executed man was practically instantaneous". He added of by immediate burial. He remarked that the accused that he examined the body "minutely", touched the head was "an exceptionally strong and vigorous man". This and the hands two or three times "and ascertained that observation stemmed from the fact that in judicial the head was abnormally moveable". Or. Giacomo hanging death is not due to asphyxia, as in suicidal and Baldacchino and Or. Emmanuel Said, the other two homicidal hanging, but to dislocation of the upper experts appointed to conduct the post-mortem, cervical vertebrae from the long and sudden drop of the confirmed the deposition of Or. G. Caruana Scicluna. prisoner, the distance of the drop being calculated Other witnesses for the prosecution were Ors. Federico according to the weight of the body to cause almost Bernard, G.F. lnglott, Andrea Pullicino and Joseph instant death. Or. Agius maintained that in the case of Portelli Carbone They were all present at the execution Azzopardi it was not possible "so soon to certify death" in their capacity as members of the Arciconfraternita. and that probably Azzopardi's was a case of apparent They deposed, with the exception of Or. F. Bernard, that death and that he was buried alive. Or. Agius accused they were convinced of the "practically instantaneous the government of failing to ascertain that life was death of Azzopardi" and that "death could not be due to extinct before Azzopardi's burial 4. asphyxia". Or. PP Agius subsequently apologised on learning that the death certificate had been signed by the Chief The defence of Or pp Agius Government Medical Officer, Or. Giuseppe Caruana Scicluna, the Prison Medical Officer Or. Giacomo The defence counsel of Or PP Agius was Or Anuro Baldacchino and Or. Emmanuel Said and by other Mercieca LL.O then at the beginning of his legal career doctors present at the execution as members of the and later Chief Justice. He submitted to the court that (a) Arciconfraternita del Santissimo Rosario e della Ninu Xkora was an exceptionally strong man with a well Misericordia 5 who declared that the atlas had been developed muscular system; (b) the execution was not fractured" as shown externally by the abnormal motility carried out by an expert hangman - in fact it was the of the head over the neck" and that death was hangman's first execution and he could hardly be instantaneous 6. In view of this declaration, Or. Agius expected to c,;\culate exactly the depth of the drop felt assured that death did not occur by a slow asphyxia necessary to cause the death of Xkora with his unusual adding that what he had published had been written in physique; (c) in cases of death from natural causes the good faith and inspired "by love for science and law did not permit the burial of a corpse before the lapse suffering humanity" and that he now felt relieved from of twenty-four hours after the time when death is the grave doubt that had been tormenting him for many certified by the doctor in attendance as having occurred; months 7. while in the case of judicial hanging, burial was allowed Mr. Agostino Levanzin, a pharmacist and journalist, an hour after the time of execution on the assumption joined the controversy by translating in Maltese and that death was immediate from fracture of the first publishing in his newspaper In-Nahla, excerpts from the cervical vertebra with consequent injury to the spinal article by Or. PP Agius in the Risorgimento; 8 but later, cord; (d) the report of the experts showed "the very on reading the statements of the medical men present at superficial way" in which the post-mortem was carried the execution he declared that there was no doubt that out; (e) the death of the hanged man might not have the condemned man was dead when he was buried 9. been due to "dislocation of the neck"; (f) the witnesses However, while Levanzin's declaration was in the press, of the prosecution could not make any "authoritative he was summoned to appear in court for libelling Or. statement" on the subject as they had not examined the Giuseppe Caruana Scicluna in one of the issues of In­ body of the hanged man; (g) it is very difficult to Nahla 10. Or. PP Agius was also summoned for the same ascertain the existence of the fracture of the neck reason. Their case dragged on until October 11. notwithstanding that the head is movable unless an autopsy is performed; 12 (h) the body was enclosed in a The trial by jury sack up to the neck and the three doctors appointed to perform the autopsy 13 did not remove the body from the The trial by jury of Or. pp . Agius, BA, MD, PhC, sack but presumed that death had taken place from the editor of the Risorgimento and of Mr. Agostino fact that the head of the cadaver could be turned round Levanzin, BA, PhC, LP, editor of In-Nahla took place on which they took as an indication that the atlas had been the 28th October 1909 before the Criminal Court. They fractured with consequent death. were charged with having written and published in their To rebut this last point, defence counsel produced as papers "libellous articles" imputing to Or. Giuseppe medical witness Or. Giuseppe Galizia, "a learned doctor Caruana Scicluna that he had superficially performed the with experience in a large practice" who described a case post-mortem examination on the 27th October 1908 of that had occurred to him together with two colleagues Antonio Azzopardi. Or. Etienne Micallef, LL.O, some time previously. The three of them had carried out Assistant Crown Advocate was the Prosecutor; Or. the post-mortem examination of a young girl who had Arturo Mercieca MA, LL.O appeared for Or. PP Agius died after falling from a height. The external and the Noble Contino Alfredo Caruana Gatto, BA, examination of the body showed that there was LL.O for Mr. Agostino Levanzin. The Judge was Or. "complete circular mobility of the head" but on Giovanni Pullicino, LL.O. performing the autopsy they found that the atlas had 42 P. Cassar

remained intact and that they had to look for other Valletla in th e 18th century. so much so that measures lesions to account for the death 14 were taken to forestall such an evantuality: and towards It appears that in Xkora's case no second post-mortem the last quarter of th e 19th century an "alarm bell examination took place to corroborate either Or. Caruburials were permitted 13. Zammit and Mr. John ElIis. The usefulness of X-rays in the diagnosis of bone injuries was recognised by Mr. Comments John ElIis who offered his services to the British Military Hospital in Valletta and to the Central Civil (a) The concern of the forensic pathologist is to search Hospital at Floriana in 1896. Or. T. Zammit, too, accurately for the lesions produced by a weapon in the pointed out the usefulness of X-rays in the skeletal cadaver. The autopsy, therefore, is to be carried out in a examination of the human body but it was not until 1899 thorough, methodical and orderly manner even when the that X-ray apparatus was ordered from England for the corpse is in an ad v anced state of decompositi on (case of Central Hospital; and it was only in October 1907 that M Schembri, 1870). X-ray equipment was installed in this hospital. Hence (b) Information about the scene of the crime and the awareness of the forensic value of X-rays as a tool in history of the events of the case are important as they judicial investigations was as yet non-existent 17. may indicate to the pathologist what to look for but such To appreciate why so much concern was shown knowledge should not lead to overconfidence and regarding the establishment of the certainty of diminish the importance of an actual searching Azzopardi's death before his burial, it must be realised examination of the cadaver. The "atlas" case (Antonio that at the beginning of the present century the question Azzopardi - 1908) illustrates this point. of apparent death and of hasty burials had been engaging (c) Theoretical knowledge and medical experience the attention of both medical and lay people in Malta and about the causes of death are essential but they do not abroad especially in France and the United Kingdom, so replace the actual search at the autopsy for the bodily much so that in England a Society for the Prevention of organs injured and for the weapon or bullet lodged in the Premature Burial was actively drawing the attention of tissues in each particular case (Michael Schembri ­ the medical profession and the public to this topic 18. 1870). In Malta the possibility of the interment of living (d) Not only primary but also secondary causes of people, only apparently dead, had given rise to concern death have to be established and made available for the on the part of the authorities of the Holy Infil111ary of prosecution and the defence counsel (case of Antonio Two Judicial post-mortems that went awry 1870 & 1908 43

Azzopardi. Evidence of witness Or Giuseppe Galizia ­ S In-Nah"l, 24 April 11.)01.) - p.262 1908). 1.). In-Nahla, I May 1901.) - p.270 (e) It was recently stated that the first instance of an 10 . In-Nahla, 17 April 1909 - p.253 exhumation to be ordered by a Maltese Court for 11. In-Nahla, 6 Nov 1901.) - p.490 forensic purposes took place within living memory. This 12. Malta Herald, 10 Oct 1909 - p.2: 2 Nov 1909 - p.] 13. They were Drs. G. Caruana Scicluna, E. Said and G. is not correct for, as the present paper shows, the Baldacchino performance of an exhumation for a judicial post­ 14 . Mercieca A, The Making and Unmaking of a Maltese mortem examination was carried out for the first time in Chief Justice, Malta, 1969, pp.82-83 Malta in 1870. (case of Michael Schembri). A second 15. Formosa HB, Ninu Xkora, The Knight, yoU, May 11.)5:1, exhumation by court order took place in 1955 (Regina vs p.34 G Terreni); a third and fourth one in ISl65 (Police vs 16. Malta Herald, 2 Nov 1909 - p.3 Joseph Caruana) 24. 17. Clssar P, The first seventy five years of Radiology in Malta, The St. Luke's Hospital Gazene, 11.)72, vol. VII, I References No.2, p.I08 18. In-Nahla, 12Feb 1910-p.801: 23July 1910-p.788 19. Cassar p, Medical History of Malta, London, 1965, p.343 I. Anon. Il-kaz stramb ta' Karml1u I-Midncb, Is-Sejha tal­ 20. In-Nahla, 12 Feb 11.)10 - p.601 Hbiberija, vo!. 2, Nov 1981, p.4]9 21. In-Nahla,5 Feb 1910 - p.594 2. TIle Malta Times, 24 Aug 1870, Supplement No. 2230 22. In-Nahla,7 May 1910 - p.699 3. Malta Herald, 2] Oct 1908 - p.2; 24 Oct - p.2; 27 Oct ­ p.]; 6 Nov - p.] 23. Mercieca A, The Making & Urunaking of a Maltese Chief Justice, Malta, 1969, pp.82-83 4. In-Nahla, 17 April 1909, p.25]8 24. Sullivan V, Matters of Life & Death, The Malta 5. Malta, 17 April 1909 - p.2; 19 April 1908 - p.2 Independent, 1I June 1995 - p.13 6. Risorgimento, 22 April 1909 - p.2 7. Risorgimento, 19 April 1909 - p.2

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