A consultant forensic pathologist contracted by the national security ministry on Thursday disclosed that American missionary Randy Hentzel died instantly from a single bullet to the head fired at close range, while his colleague Harold Nichols, who was still alive after being shot once in the back, died from one of six chop wounds to his head delivered with enough force that could chop “the branch of a big tree”.

The findings were disclosed by the forensic pathologist who took the stand at the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston in the ongoing trial of cab driver Andre Thomas who is facing two counts of murder for the 2016 killings of the men.

Nichols, 53, and Hentzel, 49, his colleague missionary for the Pennsylvania-based Teams for Medical Missions, went missing on Saturday, April 30 after leaving their Tower Isle, St Mary, homes on motorcycles intending to visit a site where they would be doing some charity work the next week. A search party launched later that day recovered Hentzel’s battered body in bushes in Wentworth District, while Nichols’ body was found the next day several miles away.

Thursday the medical examiner, who has conducted some 20,000 post-mortems since 1997, told the court that on May 3, 2016 he conducted several post-mortems, two of which were on the bodies of Hentzel and Nichols.

He said the six foot tall Hentzel when examined had both hands bound behind his back with a torn piece of clothing.

He told the court that his examination revealed a single gunshot wound which, based on the trajectory, showed that the missionary was shot from behind at close range. The bullet, which entered the base of the hairline at the back of his head, travelled upwards and exited at the left of Hentzel’s head, shattering all molars on the left upper jaw and exiting through this mouth, the forensic pathologist said.

“Death was instantaneous to less than half a minute,” the forensic pathologist divulged under probe from a senior prosecutor. He said burns from flames as well as the smoke and gunpowder on the body indicated that the missionary had been shot by someone standing close to him.

He also said there were several injuries to the body of Hentzel that were inflicted after he died. The forensic pathologist said Hentzel’s cause of death was from cranial cerebral injury due to the gunshot wound to his head.

In the meantime, he said the five foot seven inches tall Nichols had been shot once in the lower back by an assailant who was about two feet away from him but was still alive and capable of moving, before he was chopped six times over the head.

According to the forensic pathologist, any of the six chop wounds to the head of the missionary could have killed him due to the force with which they were inflicted. Asked to explain the significance of the clean cut wounds to Nichol’s head, he said the injuries could have been caused by a “heavy cutting weapon like a cutlass”.

Asked what degree of force resulted in the infliction of those chop wounds, he said “severe force”.

“Each wound could cause death independently”, the forensic expert told the court.

Asked by attorney for Thomas Leroy Equiano whether the assailant was “an angry person” based on the nature of the wounds, the forensic expert said, “I can’t answer for the so-called assailant”.

Asked whether the individual who inflicted the wounds wanted Nichols dead, the forensic pathologist said, “yes, sir”.

Quizzed further by Equiano about whether Nichols was “lying, sitting or standing” when he was murdered, the forensic pathologist said “any position is possible”.

Thursday jurors, with the permission of the judge following Thomas’ cross-examination, queried the amount of pressure behind the weapon used to chop Nichols.

“Heavy force coming down, I would compare it to chopping the branch of a big tree,” he said.

Thursday, Thomas clad in the same black T-shirt and pants he had worn on Wednesday sat arrow straight, arms loosely folded, at rapt attention as the forensic pathologist demonstrated how the injuries were inflicted to the men.

Dwight Henry, his co-accused, who had pleaded guilty for his role in the murders, is serving a life sentence with eligibility for parole after 28 years.

The matter, which is being heard by Supreme Court Judge Justice Leighton Pusey with a jury, resumes on Monday at 10.