May 13, 2013

Force needed for drowning in pot, trial told

By David Clarkson. Nikki roper murder trial, day 6, updated report.

Efforts by a person to drown themselves in a pot of water would be ?almost impossible?, an expert witness explained to the jury at the High Court trial of Nikki Roper, charged with the murder of his ex-girlfriend.

Pathologist Dr Kenneth Anderson told the jury he believed drowning in a pot of water was ?a fairly extraordinary method of suicide?.

Roper?s account to the police of the death of 21-year-old Alexsis Maria Tovizi has been that she drowned herself in a pot of water, while she held his hand on the back of her head, and when she stopped pushing, he had continued.

He said: ?In the final stages of drowning, unconsciousness supervenes before the person actually dies. In that unconscious state, there is an animal instinct to try to save yourself. That is overwhelming and will overwhelm any conscious attempt to drown yourself.?

He said that if someone was assisting by holding the head in the pot of water very forcefully, it may be possible. If the victim was unconscious, it would be relatively easy.

Drowning yourself in a pot of water would be ?almost impossible?, he said.

Dr Anderson told of making a post mortem examination of Alexsis Maria Tovizi about three days after her death, when decomposition was well advanced.

On the left side of her neck, he saw a horizontal linear mark, 45mm long and 5mm wide, which appeared to be a bruise. On the right side of her neck was a small reddish mark, 4mm across, which might have been a superficial minor abrasion.

He noticed bruising on an arm and on the hands. The fingernails were long with no signs of recent breakages. He would have expected to see broken nails if there had been vigorous defensive action.

He found that the cause of death was pulmonary edema, probably caused by asphyxia.

He knew how choker holds were applied. They put pressure on the sides of the neck which was where the mark was found on Miss Tovizi. It was exactly where a mark could appear if a hold was applied while a necklace was being worn.

He had not considered drowning as a cause of death at the time of the post mortem but it was consistent with the finding of pulmonary edema. Edema in the lungs would come from water that was breathed in, and from the body itself. In Miss Tovizi?s case, there had been a lot of water in the lungs.

He was familiar with research on sudden deaths from seizures in people who regularly drank alcohol to excess. It was usually associated with a fatty liver but there was no sign of liver damage in Miss Tovizi.

?It certainly is a possibility,? said Dr Anderson. ?I don?t think it is reasonable. I don?t think there is evidence to back it up in relation to her alcohol consumption.?

The court now has been told that the theory of a seizure caused by alcohol consumption will be put forward by a defence expert. Defence questioning has raised evidence about Miss Tovizi?s drinking.

Roper, 24, denies murdering Miss Tovizi at a Christchurch address in December 2010, and also unlawfully taking her car, stealing her laptop computer, and dishonestly using her bankcard.

The Crown case is that Roper asphyxiated in a carotid or sleeper hold, and may have drowned her afterwards. It alleges he killed the ex-girlfriend out of jealousy and revenge.

It is the sixth day of the trial before Justice Forrest Miller and a jury in the Christchurch High Court.

Update: Pathologist Dr Martin Sage said he saw Miss Tovizi?s body in the bedroom where she was found.

He believed it would be hypothetically possible for someone to drown themselves in a bucket of water but it would require an extraordinary state of mind. He had never seen or read of such a case.

He said Roper?s account that he had held her head to assist her suicide in this way ?stretches my credulity?. It would be practically easy to defeat the attempt when her hands were not restrained, and they showed no sign of ligature marks. It would still have been difficult if she had been unconscious.

Assault using a carotid or sleeper hold could cause death without leaving any neck injuries. In this case there was a bruise with a ?linear regular repeating pattern? on her neck, which might indicate she was wearing a chain necklace when she was put in a hold. No necklace was found on her body.

Toxicology showed no sign of ingestion of medicinal drugs, alcohol, or sedatives which would explain her death.

The mode of death had been pulmonary edema. He would have listed the cause of death as ?unascertained?.

He said that the evidence about her drinking seemed to make her death from a seizure arising from alcohol consumption an unlikely explanation. Unexplained deaths that could arise from chronic alcoholism tended to be in older people who had been heavy drinkers for two or three decades.

Miss Tovizi had no signs of damage from drinking alcohol. ?I cannot recall seeing a case in which we have been prepared to attribute death to alcoholism in a woman of this age.?

Defence counsel Simon Shamy pointed to evidence that during 2010 Miss Tovizi would get drunk ?almost daily? and had a significant alcohol dependence.

Further update: A defence expert, forensic pathologist Dr David Ranson of Melbourne, gave evidence by video link, saying that the post mortem had been compromised by decomposition changes to the body. He did not consider pulmonary edema to be a cause of death. Asphyxia as a cause of death, while possible, appeared weak on pathological grounds.

He said seizures could occur in association with alcohol ingestion or withdrawal. Sudden arrythmic cardiac death could occur. Indications of it were a fatty liver and a low alcohol level. Cross-examined, he said he could not elevate this possibility to be a probable cause of the death in this case because he could not point to the medical basis for it.

He said the evidence of the mark on Miss Tovizi?s neck ?does not particularly impress me?. It might arise from decomposition, or from an injury, or even from contact with a fabric crease while the body was lying down.