5 arrested over Mamfe hospital mortuary scandal

Five persons have been arrested in connection with a forced entry into the Mamfe Hospital Mortuary in the night of Wednesday July 29, 2015, leading to the disappearance of two corpses.

The missing corpses are those of Liday Achere who died at the age of 82 and Cecilia Ayuk Tabot Nkongho, who died at 110, The Post has learnt.

The suspects comprise two night watchmen; Paul Ojong and Samuel Nyabou, and two mortuary attendants; Paul Nji Anye, Eugene Ayuk Fonkang and a former mortuary attendant at the same health facility, Taiwo Fogbalo Tolulopi.

According to a Mamfe-based tabloid, The National Telegraph, the five suspects are currently in custody at the Mamfe Gendarmerie Brigade. Reports say the suspects were arraigned following investigations ordered by the State Prosecutor of Mamfe, Didacus Leinyuy Sunjoh. The arrests were made between the July 29 and 31.

The Post further gathered that the mobile phones of the suspects were confiscated a review made of their call histories to help investigations. One Evaristus Njokong, head of the Mamfe Hospital Morgue Department is quoted as stating that three corpses arrived at the mortuary on July 28 and all could not be treated for preservation.

The rest of the work on the corpses was programmed for the next day, but the next morning, the workers of the morgue discovered that the door leading into the mortuary had been destroyed and the two corpses were not found.

Achere’s corpse had been brought in from Kembong, while Nkongho’s was ferried in from Osing, since July 7, 2015, and was due removal on the 31. Both women hailed from Eyumojock Subdivision.

Following the intervention of security forces, the corpses of both Achere and Nkongho were discovered in nearby bushes, a little far from the mortuary.

The corpses were then examined in the presence of the Divisional Officer for Mamfe Central, Ignatius Ekale, the State Prosecutor and Dr. Asong Fortaboh, the medical doctor, who confirmed that nothing had happened to the bodies.

The medic disclosed that the corpses had neither been maimed nor sexually assaulted.