The family of a Liberian national, Mr Tennessie Jurry, who reportedly came from the Oru Refugee Camp in Ogun State to Iseyin, but died recently while working as a mortician at Our Lady Hospital, Iseyin, Oyo State, suspects foul play in his death, while his employers insist he died of malaria. What could have resulted in Tennessie Jury’s death? STEPHEN GBADAMOSI asks in this report.
THE family of the late Mr. Tennessie Jurry has refused to believe he — Tennessie Jurry — died of a natural cause. The family members have been pointing accusing finger at Our Lady Hospital, Iseyin, alleging a foul play in the death of Jurry.
But authorities of the hospital have denied the allegation, saying the deceased’s family is courting trouble, not only of the hospital, but also of the Catholic Diocese of Oyo State as a whole.
Jurry was said to have relocated to Iseyin from the refugee camp in Ijebu-Oru, Ogun State about a year ago. He was said to have secured a job as an undertaker in the hospital and was looking forward to a stable livelihood.
But the family of Jurry, in a petition addressed to the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, entitled; “Sudden Death of Mr Tennessie Jury – Liberian,” signed by the deceased’s uncle, Mr Omarley Gray, and his church pastor at the Refugee Camp, Oru, Ogun State, from where he came to work in Iseyin, Pastor Joseph Kennedy, a copy of which Sunday Tribune has seen, said Jurry, 33, took “pap prepared the same night he died by a Nigerian colleague living in the same chalet with him.”
The petition, copied to the Liberian Ambassador to Nigeria, claimed that the family suspected foul play from the way their kinsman’s body was removed from the room where he died with fluids coming from his nostrils and mouth.
“His body was found naked with fluids coming from his mouth and nose. Apart from the shoddy way his body was removed from a room within the hospital premises to the University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan, the involvement of the hospital to cover up the truth about his death is painful and embarrassing. We are greatly distressed.
“Our son, Tennessie, was a peaceful and easygoing human individual since he started living in Iseyin over a year ago. We hereby seek the intervention of the Commissioner of Police, Oyo State Command, for proper investigation to be conducted into the actual cause of his death, and that all those found culpable should be brought to justice.
However, Reverend Sister Agnes Mary Adeluyi, a member of the Catholic hospital, who was said to have sent a message to Gray, informing him that his nephew’s remains had spent more than two weeks in the Department of Pathology, University of Ibadan, and that the Catholic hospital would not be able to shoulder further costs, told Sunday Tribune by phone that the family lied against the hospital and the entire Catholic church.
“How did you get that information? Who is the person that said it? That story is very untrue. This is a Catholic hospital. What are we going to kill our staff for? He was found; but before he died, he was found groaning. Within the same compound lives a doctor. They went to call the doctor and before the doctor’s arrival, he was found dead.
“So, how could we have been responsible for his death? I’m surprised that they have told you that. They have not accused us of that. Is that the first time somebody would die and fluids would be coming out of his mouth? That man was not poisoned. They just don’t want to accept the fact that he died. He was sick and came to see doctor. He was asked to return, but unfortunately he died. Why would anybody want to poison him?” Reverend Adeluyi queried.
Reverend Sister Adelusi was said to be the one who sent an e-mail to him on Saturday, 13 October, informing him of the need to come and remove the remains of his nephew from the UCH as the hospital could no longer bear the cost of the morgue.
Contained in the e-mail, a copy of which Sunday Tribune saw, was the message: “Dear Mr Omarley, good day to you. This is to inform you officially that the remains of the late Mr Tenesie Jurry have been deposited in the Department of Anatomy, University of Ibadan. Payment was made for two weeks. These two weeks end on 22 October, 2012. We want to inform you that we will not be responsible for further payments after this time. The department requests a four-day notice before the removal of the body. We expect to hear from you the date of the burial of Mr Tenesie within this period. With regards. Rev. Sr. Agnes Mary.”
A copy of the autopsy purportedly conducted on Jurry’s remains dated 27 September and signed by one Dr. C. A. Okolo, a copy of which Sunday Tribune has seen, noted that the man died of severe malaria. The coroner’s report, bearing the stamp of the Department of Pathology, University College Hospital, Ibadan, held that “body received at autopsy is that of a middle aged looking man. Autopsy findings confirmed background hypertensive heart disease with left ventricular failure; severe malaria with severe anaemia and haemorrhage gastritis with aspiration pneumonitis.”
But Gray insisted that the family had no belief in the result of Dr. Okolo’s autopsy, adding that with the state he found the remains of his nephew, it was necessary for further investigation to be conducted on the circumstances surrounding his death.
He said reports gathered by the family when they got to Iseyin indicated that their kinsman not only drank pap, but also a brand of milk bought for him by a colleague shortly before he died.
When Sunday Tribune contacted the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Iseyin, Mr Joseph Omonijo, he corroborated the coroner’s report that Jurry died of malaria, but declined to comment further on the matter on the ground that it was the state police command that had the power to brief the press over the issue.
However, the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of administration, Mr Clement Adoda, who spoke on behalf of the state commissioner of police, noted that the matter should not have called for doubt by the family of the deceased. He said since it was a certified medical practitioner that carried out autopsy on Jurry’s remains, the police had acted according to the law.
“When the man died, the Catholic hospital contacted the police and autopsy was conducted on the man. The autopsy showed that he died of malaria and typhoid. After the family and the hospital people met with the police, the family members said they were going to Ibadan. Up till now, they have not returned to Iseyin. And that is why the body of the man is still at the University of Ibadan.
“What the law stipulates is for a competent medical practitioner to carry out autopsy on a dead person and that was what was done. If the autopsy says the man died of malaria and it was carried out by a competent medical practitioner, that is what the law requires and it should be abided by,” Mr Adoda said.
With the stand of Jurry’s family over the matter now, it remains to be seen how the matter will be resolved. The deceased’s body is still in the University of Ibadan, and apparently at a cost his former employers may not want to bear. The police say they have played their own lawful role in the matter. And Jurry’s former employers claim there was no foul play anywhere near the Liberian’s death. The question, however, remains: What killed Jurry?
