A Case of Definite Proof That a Particular Knife Was Used to Commit a Murder
| Author | A. I. Kayssi,J. F. Wilkins |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X3901200412 |
| Date | 01 October 1939 |
| Published date | 01 October 1939 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
A Case of Definite Proof that a
Particular Knife was used to
Commit aMurder
By
DR.
A.
I.
KAYSSI,
Director, Medico-Legal
Institute,
Baghdad
J. F.
WILKINS,
O.B.E.,
C.LD.,
Baghdad
EARLY
in April, 1938, it was reported to the Police of
'Adhamiyeh, a suburb of Baghdad, that one Abdullah bin
Salman had been missing for some days. Enquiries were made
and on the
zjrd
April his body was found buried in the court-
yard of the school in which he had been employed as a waiter.
Death appeared to have been due to a multiplicity of stab
wounds.
The
body was received in the Medico-Legal Institute,
Baghdad, on the 23rd April and was in an advanced state of
putrefaction.
The
autopsy confirmed that death had been due
to the many severe stab wounds.
Of these, there was one, situated immediately under the
left nipple, which had penetrated the heart and was so dis-
tinctive in shape and size that it was thought it might be of
value as suggesting the type of weapon by which it had been
caused. Accordingly the skin of the area was removed and
preserved
(see
Photograph NO.1).
After the body had been buried, a large and newly
sharpened kitchen knife, stated to have been seized from the
possession of a suspected man, was received from the Police
for examination for the presence of human blood. This exam-
ination proved negative in spite of the fact that the knife was
completely taken apart and every portion subjected to test.
It
was, however, noticed that the shape and breadth of
the blade of the knife were such as to suggest that a knife of
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