A former deputy State pathologist gave evidence at a murder trial which had the potential to cause a miscarriage of justice which was “dangerous in the extreme”, a medical inquiry has heard.
Dr William Lawler, a former Home Office pathologist in the UK, told a fitness-to-practise hearing being held by the Medical Council that he believed that Dr Khalid Jaber had given evidence about the mechanism of death of a victim which had no evidential basis to a jury trial.
The Saudi-born medical practitioner – who served as deputy State pathologist between 2009 and 2013 – has been accused by the Medical Council of three allegations of professional misconduct and poor professional performance over complaints about his reports and related court evidence in two murder cases over a decade ago.
Dr Lawler told the third day of a fitness-to-practise inquiry that he had no difficulty with pathologists having different opinions so long as they could back up their views with supportive evidence.
Dr Jaber is accused of giving evidence in the trial of Michael Furlong for the murder of his friend, Patrick Connors (37) in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, in April 2011 that blunt force trauma which caused fractures of the deceased’s jaw had also caused damage to the victim’s spinal cord when there was no pathological evidence to justify such an opinion.
The inquiry heard that it would also be claimed that Dr Jaber was aware of a report by a consultant neuropathologist which contradicted his own opinion.
It is also alleged that in the same case, the pathologist refused to accept the possibility that hypothermia might have been a contributory factor in the death of Mr Connors.
The trial of Mr Furlong collapsed in 2013 following the dramatic intervention of the then chief State pathologist, Marie Cassidy, when she notified the DPP of her concerns about Dr Jaber’s evidence and the fact that his postmortem report in the case had not been peer-reviewed.
The High Court subsequently prohibited the holding of a retrial.
Commenting on the case, Dr Lawler there was no evidential basis for Dr Jaber to have made his finding in relation to the spinal cord, particularly as he had carried out an extensive examination of that area of the victim’s body.
Dr Lawler, who was giving evidence as an expert witness on behalf of the Medical Council, said any hypothesis that is made without supporting evidence is “bound to be misleading.”
He said it was even more important when it was about something as fundamental as the cause of death.
“I think it is indescribably dangerous because there is always going to be a risk that there may be a miscarriage of justice if an argument is put forward which is not based on good, sound, reliable, reproducible, pathological evidence,” said Dr Lawler.
The witness stressed that pathologists, as expert witnesses, carried enormous responsibility if they could not back up their findings as individuals could be charged with something they had not done.
Dr Lawler said juries will presume what pathologists say is “incontrovertible.”
Based on his review of Dr Jaber’s postmortem report on Mr Connors, Dr Lawler said the pathologist should have realised his finding was “completely untenable.”
Although the victim, who was found naked from the waist up, had shown none of the obvious signs of hypothermia, he claimed Dr Jaber did not appear to have considered that it could have been a significant factor in his death.
He said Dr Jaber had completely dismissed the proposition even though when it was raised in court he should have realised hypothermia was an important factor given the circumstances of Mr Connors’ death.
Separately, it is alleged that there was no pathological evidence to justify Dr Jaber’s finding in a postmortem report that the death of Francis Greene (48) at Steamboat Quay in Limerick in November 2009 was due to asphyxia and giving similar evidence in a related murder trial.
Kevin Coughlan of Avondale Drive, Greystones, Limerick had his conviction for the murder of Mr Greene quashed by the Court of Appeal in June 2015.
However, he was subsequently convicted of Mr Greene’s manslaughter at a retrial and sentenced to eight years in prison.
Gardaí believed the victim had been forced into the River Shannon and died by drowning but Dr Jaber’s evidence suggested he had been strangled before he ended up in the water.
The pathologist is also accused of failing to demonstrate he appreciated the fundamental difference between bite marks and tooth indentations and incorrectly equating hanging with strangulation in his evidence.
Dr Jaber (66), who now lives in the Middle East, is not attending the inquiry and has had little engagement with the Medical Council since 2018 about the case after he had written highly colourful and vitriolic letters in which he sharply criticised his former colleagues in the Office of the State Pathologist, the DPP and some members of the judiciary.
He has also accused the Medical Council of conducting a “malicious” and “racially motivated” inquiry into his work as a State pathologist.
The inquiry’s chairperson, Mary O’Sullivan, adjourned the hearing to a date to be fixed at a later stage.
The inquiry arises from a complaint filed against Dr Jaber in August 2015 by the then deputy State pathologist, Michael Curtis, who expressed concern about the “unreasonable and, at times, bizarre behaviour” of his former colleague.
In the written complaint, Dr Curtis remarked: “We harbour grave concerns regarding his professional competence.”
