Facial soft tissue thickness trends for selected age groups of Sri Lankan adult population.

Facial soft tissue thickness (FSTT), together with the osteological characteristics of the skull, is one of the important factors for facial reconstruction in both forensic anthropology and plastic surgeries. Even though a number of countries around the world have analysed the FSTT data of their own populations and are having a FSTT database, no such dataset or analysis is available in Sri Lanka. In this study, FSTT was measured at 23 standard anthropological landmarks using magnetic resonance images (MRIs) of 243 adult individuals (male - 121, female - 122) of the Sri Lankan population, which were collected from clinical data from the National Hospital of Sri Lanka. For each landmark, basic descriptive statistics were calculated. The FSTT values which were classified according to the gender and age, were analysed to assess the variation of FSTT with those categories. The results of this study indicate that there are certain FSTT attributes which are related to specific landmarks and age groups. For example, data in this study depict that men have higher FSTT than women, in the area along the midline. However, the area around the cheeks shows comparatively large tissue thickness in young women (within 20-39 age range) than in men. Some landmarks indicate a significant variation in values with aging. Finally the results of this study were compared with that of a North West Indian study to evaluate whether a significant difference is present among the two geographically close countries.

A Crime Scene Fabricated as Suicide.

When ascertaining the manner of death, the forensic pathologist should be careful, because in some instances, attempts are made by the criminals to conceal homicides as suicides. The case under discussion highlights the contribution of the forensic pathologist in the ascertainment of the manner in firearm deaths. The deceased was a poacher and his dead body was found in a cashew land with his shotgun lying over him. The shirt had a roughly circular defect with muzzle mark, and burnt and blackened margin. Beneath that, on front of the left upper chest a 2cm diameter circular, perforated laceration, with muzzle imprint and, burnt and blackened margin was found. Shelving was found at the upper margin. Chest X-ray showed the downward pellet distribution. Cause of death was chest injuries due to pellets discharged from a smooth bore weapon. Length of the upper arm reach was 65cm (25 inches) and the length from the muzzle to the trigger was 79cm (31 inches). In conclusion, it was found to be a fabricated suicide scene and the manner of death was ascertained as homicide. This reiterates that the postmortem investigation of firearm deaths should be performed or conducted under direct supervision of forensic specialist to deliver justice.

A Rare Long-term Complication of Physical Torture.

The allegations made against custodians regarding ill treatments have been increased in Sri Lanka. However, their attention is grabbed by the immediate complications of torture, but not by late or delayed complications. A 35-year-old male was arrested for alleged housebreaking and kept under police custody. He alleged that he was hanged with his hands on several occasions. Six weeks after the incident, he presented to a tertiary care hospital with the weakness of his right shoulder. Examination revealed hyperpigmented scars over the left wrist and back of the left forearm with the right-sided medial winging of the scapula. He alleged that it had affected his day-to-day life. The presence of hyperpigmented scars over the left wrist and the long-term complications such as winged scapula of the right shoulder corroborated with the alleged history of torture by suspension from the wrists.

Sudden death of a middle-aged man with an artificial vagina in situ.

Artificial vaginas are designed to imitate the female sex organ. This is the first reported case in the forensic literature of a man being pronounced dead with an artificial vagina in situ. A middle-aged man was found unconscious in a bathroom when the door was forced open and was pronounced dead on admission. Autopsy revealed that the penis was inside an artificial vagina. There were no injuries, but there were left ventricular hypertrophy, myocardial fibrosis, and narrow coronaries. The cause of death was ascertained as ischemic heart disease due to coronary atherosclerosis and the comments included were no evidence of violence, and ischemic heart disease could have been precipitated due to abnormal sexual activity. If removal of artificial vagina was done before the admission, this circumstance could not have ascertained. Removal of such devices before admission to hospitals could be the reason why such incidents do not come to light.

Homicidal Cut Throat: The Forensic Perspective.

The forensic pathologists have a challenging task during the ascertainment of the manner of death in cut throat injuries when presented with no proper history or witnesses. We report a rare homicide, where a person was killed by the father of his gay partner. A 51-year-old married man was found dead in his car on the driving seat at a road. There were blood stains on the dash board and windscreen. No weapon had been recovered. At autopsy, a deep, oblique, long incised injury was found on the front of the neck. There were no hesitant or defense injuries. The cause of death was cut throat. The findings were compatible with a homicidal cut throat by a right handed person from behind after head being restrained firmly. Findings were compatible with the history provided by the suspect.

Comparison of injuries due to lethal weapons during and after civil strife in Sri Lanka: A medico-legal study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: "Injuries due to lethal weapons" has emerged as a subject of public discussion in Sri Lanka. This study was conducted to describe the nature and characteristics of injuries due to lethal weapons during civil strife and to compare those with injuries after civil strife. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on patients reported with injuries caused by lethal weapons from 2004 to 2014. Periods before and after May 19, 2009 were considered as during and after civil strife periods, respectively. A total of 21,210 medico-legal examination forms were studied. RESULTS: There were 358 (1.7%) injuries caused by lethal weapons. Of them, 41% (n = 148) were during and 59% (n = 210) were after the civil strife. During civil strife, 63% occurred during daytime (P < 0.05). Types of lethal weapons that caused injuries were sharp weapons (n = 282), explosives (n = 49), and firearms (n = 27). Of them, 32% of during and 01% of after civil strife were explosive injuries (P < 0.01). Regarding severity, 73% of during and 57% of after civil strife injuries were severe (P < 0.05). During civil strife, 34% injuries were in lower limbs (P < 0.01) and after civil strife, 37% were in upper limbs (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The presence of many similarities indicated that both groups learnt their basis in a society that breeds violence. During civil strife, more injuries occurred during daytime, to lower limbs by explosive weapons and after the civil strife during nighttime, to upper limbs by nonexplosive weapons. Nonexplosive lethal weapon use after civil strife needs further investigation to develop evidence-based interventions.

Management of dead and missing: aftermath tsunami in Galle.

Tsunami on 26th December 2004 which affected the entire costal belt of Sri Lanka caused over 30,000 deaths and about 8000 disappearances. The Forensic Unit of the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital alone handled over 1100 deaths, of which about 450 unidentified bodies were dispatched for mass burial, after recording external appearances and all other important personal data, which helped us to establish identity of another 120 victims within next 6 weeks. The visiting forensic team from Colombo, arrived on 27th, assisted us in recording details of 1500 victims of "Peraliya" railway incident. Unfortunately, they were only able to record 250 cases due to pressure from the public and political interference. Our approach to management of tsunami victims was based on recovery and identification of injured and deceased persons, immediate medical care, storage of dead bodies my mass embalming, detailed recording of all unidentified bodies and disposal in mass graves.