Family members of the late Princess Cooper say they are longer interested in the conduct of another autopsy and are therefore requesting that the government turns over the body of their relative for a proper and decent burial.
Deputy Minister of Information for Public Affairs, Jarlawah Tonpo, told the weekly media briefing yesterday at MICAT that Finley Karngar, one of the lawyers of the deceased’s family, formally communicated to the government the family’s wish.
Tonpo informed the media that the government shall respond to the family’s communication in the future through the Justice Ministry stating that the letter sent to the government was dated Monday, July 11, 2022, and the government is arranging a special media conference to address the matter in due course.
The lifeless body of 25 years old Princess, who was a resident of Tweh Farm, was found face down in a pool of blood in the premises of the Fawaz Building Material Store at the ELWA Junction.
After what they termed a comprehensive autopsy, on April 18, pathologists Benedict Kolee and Zoebon B. Kpadeh announced that Princess died mainly of progressive secondary pulmonary tuberculosis, which the family strenuously denied, prompting their demand for a second examination.
The second autopsy came about when President George Weah asked Justice Minister Frank Musa Dean to make Ms. Cooper’s body available for a second autopsy as per the family’s wish in their efforts to bring closure to the circumstances surrounding their daughter’s death.
The family’s spokesperson, Abel Momo, told the media at the time that the forensic pathologist was refused for three weeks into the country without any reasons and all that were cited comprised of insecurities and resistance thereby declining the process.
The family blamed the government for not allowing their approved pathologists into the country to conduct a second autopsy as requested by them.
