Warning: Graphic Material below:
11am: Forensic pathologist Dr Nathan Milne old the jury of the body found under the Kholo Creek bridge.
He said the woman’s arms were upwards and her hands were still within the sleeves of the jumper when he examined her.
He said the collar of the jumper was around the neck and it was “inside out’’.
Dr Milne said he removed the jumper from the body and also identified a purple singlet, underwear, white sneakers and socks.
He said the woman was 170cm and weighed 72kg, which was likely to be less than her true weight due to fluid loss.
Dr Milne said the woman’s hair was long and brown.
He said the woman’s face, eyes and ears, nose, lips and tongue were missing and some of the facial skeleton was visible.
Dr Milne said that was a consequence of the putrefaction process, insect activity and activity from other animals.
“I think the loss of tissue is primarily insect activity on already decomposed tissue,’’ he said.
He said putrefaction was more likely to occur in areas where blood pooled in the body, a process called hypostasis, which he said was present along the right side of the woman’s body.
“That’s consistent with death in the position that we’ve seen or the body being put into that position… within a matter of hours of death,’’ Dr Milne said.
He said hypostasis would take place within half an hour of death and 12 to 16 hours after death.
Dr Milne said he saw no teeth marks on the tissue consistent with larger animal activity.
He said the hands showed no injuries.
He said the fingernails were all detached on the right hand, but he was able to find four of the nails within the jumper.
Dr Milne said there were no definite injuries found on the body.
“The putrefaction, mummification, changed colour of the skin, it can obscure injuries and obviously where the tissue is now absent, there could have been injuries there,’’ he said.
He said soft tissue loss around the face was common and did not necessarily mean there were injuries present around the face and head.
He said it was possible there was some sort of injury to the woman’s left shin, due to the level of insect activity there.
Dr Milne said the tongue and brain were affected by decomposition.
He said the soft tissues of the neck were damaged and the muscles “significantly decomposed’’.
Dr Milne said the carotid arteries, which were often resistant to decomposition, were able to be examined.
The hyoid bone, near the voice box, was not fractured or damaged, he said.
Dr Milne said there was no evidence of injury to the sternum, no fractures to the ribs but a “probable injury’’ on the internal lining of the chest wall.
“It was probably a bruise, I can’t exclude that as a post mortem effect, though,’’ he said.
He said a bruise, if this was one, would usually be caused by a blunt force injury with “mild’’ force.
Dr Milne said the area that looked like a bruise was around 5cm in size, on the left side of the chest, near ribs 4 to 6 and the “heart region’’.
He said there was a small amount of pink fluid and pale material that appeared to be food or possibly medication residue in the stomach.
“I think it’s probably just food material,’’ he said.
Dr Milne said the liver had a small amount of blood in it that was sampled for toxicology.
“That was the only blood I could find during my examination due to the level of putrefaction,’’ he said.
He said the liver would break down substances and metabolise medications, for example.