EXCLUSIVE: DNA test rules out sexual assault in Keren Akpagher’s death

The result of the DNA test on Keren Akpagher has ruled out sexual assault in the death of the Premiere Academy student, TheCable can report.

The test was carried out by Sorensen Forensics, a forensic DNA lab based in Draper, Utah; and Genetic Technologies Inc., a forensic company based in Grover, Montana, US.

The case report from tests conducted by both companies suggests no link to the narrative of sexual assault in the controversy surrounding the student’s death.

BACKGROUND

Keren was a boarding student at Premiere Academy in Abuja when she died in June 2021. She was aged 14.

The controversy over her death was ignited by claims that she was sexually assaulted and died of septic shock from a “decayed condom and dead sperm” found in her vagina when a doctor at Queens Clinic in Abuja tried to pass a catheter in her.

The FCT police, Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID, and the ministry of education all investigated the matter. An autopsy was also conducted in July 2021.

The house of representatives subsequently directed that a DNA test be conducted on the male staff at the school to fish out purported rapists.

DNA TEST RESULTS

A report on the DNA tests — seen by TheCable — was addressed to Samuel Keshinro of Nigeria Police Medical Services, Police Hospital, Falomo in Lagos.

The report is titled “Offense: Alleged Sexual Assault on Female Minor”.

TheCable understands that the test at Genetic Technologies was conducted for DNA identification of the victim.

Sorensen Forensics’s task, on the other hand, was to use DNA testing to determine if there was evidence of male DNA, including spermatozoa, in the vaginal vault samples taken from the late Keren.

The labs identified the girl, tested “vaginal vault“ samples from the deceased, and reported that no male DNA was found in the sample.

DNA TEST ALIGNS WITH AUTOPSY

Both the quality assurance (QA) test which “ensures accuracy, reproducibility, sensitivity, and reliability in the results” and the confirmatory F2 test results on the vaginal vault sample emphasised that “no male DNA was found in the sample”.

The DNA test results were also found to be generally in agreement with the report of the autopsy conducted on the deceased.

The autopsy report, which was made available to TheCable, revealed that the urogenital system of the girl was “unremarkable”.

“The vagina was about 9.5cm long and 8cm at its widest point, near its vault,” the report reads in part.

“It contained no pus or any foreign material. The mucosal lining displayed the normal and usual transverse ridges. The lining was smooth and clean. It displayed no lacerations or excoriations of any sort.”

The autopsy went further to reveal the uterine cervix as “conical and closed, its external opening (external os) tightly closed and round”.

“The covering is clean, displaying no lacerations or excoriations. The canal of the cervix (endocervical canal) is empty and contained no foreign body material. The internal opening (internal os) was unremarkable,” it further reads.

A team including the Nigeria Police Force pathologist Damian Ike Okonkwo and a consultant pathologist Olusegun Ojo conducted the autopsy.

The DNA test’s alignment with the pre-existing autopsy result raises questions about what could have killed Keren.

MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

TheCable reported extensively on how Keren passed away in controversial circumstances while she was hospitalised at Queen’s Clinic.

Vihimga Akpagher, the deceased’s mother, had alleged that her daughter died from an infection after the condom was found in her vagina.

Vihimga said her late daughter had called her to complain about an illness, requesting to be picked up from school.

She said the school had initially asked her not to bother, assuring her that her daughter was doing fine.

Vihimga, however, said she had to pick up the teenager from school on June 19 after she insisted on going home.

She explained that on getting home, her daughter looked ill and was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Vihimga said Keren eventually died at the hospital after enduring trauma which made her slip into a coma.

The mother alleged that checks carried out by the medical doctor showed a condom was left in her private part while her urine also contained sperm.

She also narrated that the doctor revealed that the development had resulted in sepsis which eventually took her daughter’s life.

‘DIABETES’ AND QUEENS CLINIC

Premiere Academy had dismissed the claim that Keren left the school sick.

A subsequent news conference also saw the school call for an investigation of Queens Clinic where the student died.

TheCable had reported that Stella Fawehinmi, the school’s lead director, argued that the investigation would unearth what happened to the student from the point when she was admitted until she slipped into a coma and eventually died.

The director said the student was diabetic and that the school had managed the condition for two and a half years without incident.

She had described the rape narrative as a “calculated attempt to smear the school’s integrity”.

The director had claimed that Grace Salami, the school’s matron, was present when she visited the student in the clinic.

The matron, on the other hand, recalled how the mother of the late Keren had alerted her that the student, who spent the weekend with her family, was in crisis and was being taken to the hospital.

The matron said although Vihimga informed her that the student was delirious, she was alarmed when she got to the hospital and was confronted with what she termed “frightening indicators”.

Salami claimed the student’s blood sugar level, which was 112 when she left the school, had risen to 423.

The matron also alleged that the hospital sedated the student despite her “frightening” blood sugar level.

She had argued that the step taken by the hospital “had no professional medical precedence” and that sedating a patient with a blood sugar level of 423 was almost equivalent to a death sentence.

With the DNA test results ruling out rape, the precise cause of Keren Akpagher’s death at Queens Clinic remains to be determined.