The forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy on a child who starved to death said that it was the only case of malnutrition that he encountered while working in Bermuda.

Dr. John Obafunwa, spent three years in Bermuda as a forensic pathologist at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and now resides in the UK. He arrived in 1999 and in 2001 was given the job of conducting the autopsy of A?Maya Tamerry, the daughter of Dr. Amenemhat Waset Amen-Ra Tamerry and his wife Maatkai Hatsheput Tamerry.

The Tamerry?s were convicted of unlawfully killing A?Maya from gross neglect last week.

The court heard at the start of the trial, that before her death on March 1, 2001, A?Maya was severely underweight, blind, and suffered from a slew of malnutrition related illnesses.

Dr. Obafunwa testified that the cause of death was pneumonia in both lungs, disturbance of chemical composition of the blood, protein calorie malnutrition and neglect - which he described as a medical diagnosis ? severe anaemia, red cells severely depleted and failure to thrive.

Neglect in the medical term means failure to provide all necessary requirements, Dr. Obafunwa said.

The Tamerry?s were formerly known as Clark Godwin and Regina Woods but had their names legally changed.

About 18 months into his career here, Dr. Obafunwa performed A?Maya?s autopsy on March 2, 2001. He said that prior to that time he had conducted autopsy?s on many other children in Bermuda but none related to malnutrition.

Dr. Obafunwa said of the autopsy: ?What I said in the witness box holds true in terms of the severity of my observations.?

During the trial Dr. Obafunwa thoroughly explained to the court his findings internally and externally of A?Maya?s body, which was ?remarkably small for her age?.

Dr. Obafunwa utilised pictures and slides to display his findings, some of which the jury complained about viewing, however, Dr. Obafunwa said: ?You can not make a statement that something is there, you have to demonstrate it.?

He said it was important to show all the autopsy photographs because they were showing different things with A?Maya?s body. The images of A?Maya on the autopsy table caused her mother to break down and excuse herself from the courtroom during the trial and one autopsy picture caused one of A?Maya?s aunts to nearly faint on the stand.

When asked if he could comment on whether or not Government or doctors failed A?Maya, he said: ?It is difficult to answer.?

However, he pointed out that: ?Dr. Alexander Barron, did a good job ? he tried to prevent certain things from happening, not only in terms of conduct but also notifying the appropriate authorities.?

During the trial the court heard that Dr. Barron reported the Tamerry?s to Child and Family Services because their daughter was not gaining weight and they were missing appointments with him.

When asked if the last doctor to have seen A?Maya would have noticed any symptoms from the illnesses she was found to have at the time of death he said: ?It is difficult to comment on what was seen in August.?

It came to light through the evidence in the trial that A?Maya last saw a locum for Dr. June Hill in August, 2000 ? she died seven months later and in that period was never seen by a doctor.

?I don?t have the details of what she (Dr. June Hill) did or didn?t do, ? he said. ?However, protein calorie malnutrition is a completely preventable medical condition and there is no doubt that all concerned ? medical and non medical ? owed the child (A?Maya) a duty of care.?

Dr. Obafunwa described the case as ?a challenging one in terms of putting together the scientific evidence.?

He added: ?It was a trial that waited a long time. It had been lingering for a long time and I wanted to deal with it and move on to the next case. It was a case that I thought I would have dealt with a long time ago.?

Dr. Obafunwa said he enjoyed the investigation in the scientific context not in the context of another persons loss. He added that he found it interesting and said he enjoys forensic pathology more than hospital pathology, although he does both.

He said he enjoys forensic pathology and being in court.