GOVERNMENT consultant forensic pathologist Dr Prasad Kadiyalp told the court yesterday that Ingrid Andrade-Gooden, the daughter of retired director of public prosecutions Glen Andrade, died from strangulation.

He was giving expert evidence in the Home Circuit Court in the trial of Paul Gooden, who is charged with the murder of his wife Ingrid Andrade-Gooden, whose mutilated body was found in mangroves along the Palisadoes Road in Kingston, in November 2003.

Kadiyalp, who conducted a post-mortem on the body on November 13, 2003, said "her liver, spleen and kidney were congested due to asphyxia secondary to manual strangulation... and death could have occurred between two to three minutes."

Kadiyalp, who during his almost 25 years in pathology has conducted almost 10,000 post-mortems, told the court that the death of Andrade-Gooden had occurred between 36 to 48 hours before the body was discovered.

The pathologist told the 12-member jury that the eye cavities were empty, lower jaw exposed, scalp missing, rear and index finger, thumb of right hand, part of right forearm and right ear were missing. He also testified of finding gnawing animal bite marks and human bites and abrasions all over the body. "Her neck was broken, she had deep bite marks on her tongue, congested lungs and her stomach had 350 grams of semi-digested food, maybe of spaghetti. Her fingernails were blue in colour, which indicates that the level of oxygen in her blood was low... one of the signs of asphyxia... lack of oxygen in the blood because of the manual strangulation."

Kadiyalp said some of the abrasions on the body were inflicted after death as the body was dragged on a rough surface causing post-mortem abrasions, but he said the teeth marks were anti-mortem injuries. He said wounds to the scalp, face, right arm and forearm were already done when the body was dumped, therefore the open wounds to the body might have attracted the animals.

The pathologist told the court that the deep teeth bite on the tongue could have been caused by someone pressing the mouth to prevent crying or from convulsions that occur in the process of strangulation.

Under cross-examination from defence attorney Lord Anthony Gifford, the pathologist said he found no external wounds to the neck as it was not common from strangulation to find bruises or external injuries on the neck if a soft material was used. He added that it was also not common in manual strangulation in persons between 45 to 50 years old for the Hyoid bone to be fractured.

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