Postmortem on cause of death of Lilongwe University of Agriculture lecturer reveals he was poisoned

 

By Duncan Mlanjira

Postmortem on the cause of death of Lilongwe University of Agriculture lecturer, Professor Peter Mumba reveals that he died not of natural cause but of acute poisoning from a chemical compound.

The postmortem, done by renowned pathologists, Prof. Ndalama George Liomba (B. Med. Sc, MBBS and FRCPath (UK) and Dr Charles Dzamalala (B. Med. Sci; MBBS; MMED Path (UK) on 23 May, 2020 at Chidikalala village, T.A. Mtwalo in Mzimba District reveals the man died of an unnatural cause.

“The nature and type of this toxic chemical compound is yet to be named; this awaits further qualitative and quantitative toxicological analyses,” says the postmortem report.

“This cannot be done locally; hence the importance of submitting the second set of samples to an outside toxicology laboratory.

“No obvious natural causes of death were established. Foul play cannot be excluded.“

In its summary, the postmortem report says Francis Mumba, the deceased’s younger brother, and the technician at the mortuary where the body of the deceased was embalmed reported that on the night of 24 April 2020, at about midnight, Mumba was called by the wife of the deceased informed him that his brother was unconscious and was going to be taken to hospital at St. John Hospital in Mitundu.

“A similar message came a little later from his sister. The wife reported that the deceased had come home from work around 6pm.

“He exchanged vehicles and went out. He returned home around 8 pm. He had dinner and then went to sleep sometime between of the 9.30 and 10 pm.”

The report further says a couple of hours later the wife said she heard a groaning voice from the bedroom where she found her husband complaining of feeling weak, who then fainted and became unconscious.

She is reported to have called the Bunda College doctor to see the patient, who took him to St John hospital and later to Partners in Hope Hospital.

“Here the attending doctor informed the relatives (Francis, his elder brother and sister in-law) that the patient was brought in already dead {Dead on Arrival}.

“This was after midnight, making the official date of death as 25 April, 2020. The body of the deceased was taken to Bwenzi Funeral Home where the wife asked for the body to be embalmed.

“The mortuary technician reminded the wife and the other people of the need for a post-mortem before embalming. This, it was reported, was ignored.”

The report further says the body was taken to his home village in Mzimba for burial on 26 April, 2020 and to the surprise of members of Mumba’s family, his wife left for Lilongwe the same afternoon after her husband’s burial.

“Circulating rumours indicated she rushed back to dismiss a house maid, who was reporting that Professor Mumba had been fed a poison in his food.

“This information was relayed to his first wife and children in the United Kingdom [and] asked for exhumation of the body and a post-mortem to determine the cause of death.”

With regard to past medical history, the postmortem report says the relatives knew only about gout and their was no mention of high blood pressure or diabetes mellitus as well as no history of heart disease.

On the report’s general comment, the post-mortem examination was done at the burial site after the body had been exhumed and that, at least, 30-40 people witnessed the examination, including family members, the local chief and his village headmen and three police officers from Mzuzu Police station.

“The emphasis was to establish the cause of death and in particular to collect specimens to exclude foul play as claimed in the above history.

“At the time of exhumation, the casket in which late Professor Mumba was buried was intact.”

On internal examination findings, the report says they looked at all internal organs as located in the chest, abdomen and cranial cavities and all organs, except the brain showed evidence of embalming.

The individual organ findings are presented in body system format are that in the Cardiovascular System, the pericardium was normal with no excess fluid in the sac. The heart was normal in size and estimated to weigh about 350 – 380 gm.

* The ventricles, atria and valves were normal. All three coronary arteries had focal areas of calcification but 3 their lumina widely patent. * The thoracic aorta and the proximal portions of the carotid arteries were without noticeable atheromatous lesions. The major veins were normal.

* The blood in the heart chambers was noted to be darker than normal with evidence of cell breakdown (haemolysis).

On Respiratory System the report says:

* Both lungs appeared structurally normal except for mild carbon pigment deposition and petechial hemorrhages visible on the pleural surfaces.

* The weights were about 650gm and 550gm for the right and left lung respectively. No evidence of pneumonia.

* There was straw coloured free fluid in the chest cavities.

On Gastrointestinal System, the report says:

*The mouth, oesophagus were normal. The stomach was distended and had recently eaten, undigested food, composed in part of red meat, potato chips, beans and green vegetables. The small and large intestines appeared normal.

* The liver was estimated to weigh about 1200 g. There was free embalming fluid in the abdominal cavity; the volume was not measured.

The skull and brain were normal and there was no evidence of intracranial haemorrhage while the spleen in the Lymphoreticular System appeared normal.

Other parts that were inspected were kidneys that appeared normal.

“The following specimens were collected for laboratory examination — stomach contents, blood from the heart, piece of liver and one kidney, the specimens were divided to make two sets.

“One set was sent to the Central Veterinary Laboratory in Lilongwe for toxicology. The second set was to be sent to the United Kingdom as soon as air flights resumed post-COVID 19 lockdown.

“The toxicology report indicates a toxic/poisonous chemical substance was detected from the toxicology testing of the sample extracts in the local toxicology laboratory in Lilongwe.

“The toxic chemical substance did not match any of the standards in the laboratory at the Central Veterinary Laboratory,” says the report.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that Police in Lilongwe have arrested the wife, Anne Banda on suspected food poisoning and charged with murder.

It is further reported that before his death, Professor Mumba was processing his over K100 million pension money.