Exhumation- Providing justice to victims of homicide: The Nigerian experience.

Abstract

Forensic investigations have been embraced in many developed countries to help investigate homicidal cases in their legal system amongst others. It is however still in infancy state in many developing countries, including Nigeria, making the use of this very vital tool very limited to prosecute cases. Some of the reasons include the low knowledge base of the investigating officers, to the dearth of Forensic personnel and the inability to use the findings to prosecute the offenders. The few cases where proper investigation is done, anatomic pathologists and sometimes medical officers are usually called to provide the forensic evidence. Often this involves exhumation of corpse. Exhumation of corpses for death investigation is not a common occurrence in Nigeria and we present the findings seen in these cases.

Keywords: forensic investigation, exhumation, homicide, anatomic pathologist