Sia Murder Trial, Nurses at Emergency Hospital Explain

By Feima Sesay

The 5th Prosecution witness Saminatu Tarawally in the ongoing Murder trail of Sia Fatu Kamara involving Abdul Kpaka has on Friday 25th October 2024 testified before Justice Alhaji Momoh Jah Stevens as to the role she played when Sia was brought to the emergency hospital.

Explaining, she said she is nurse attached to the Emergency hospital Surgical center Goderich.

She recognized the accused and further recalled 13th August 2024,and that some of her duties are to received patients and administered treatments to them.

According to her, on the day in question, he was on duty when one of their securities rushed in and informed them about an emergency situation, and that upon receipt of that information, her team leader Nuretta Kamara instructed her and the security Abdul Kargbo to bring the patient in and that eventually they went out to collect the patient who was brought by the accused in his vehicle.

In further examination in chief, the witness said it was the accused that brought the deceased to the hospital and on their arrival, the deceased was held in the accused arms motionless .

she said she had to help place her on the hospital bed and took her to the critical ward at the Out Patient Department.

According to the witness , she was the one that tore the clothes the deceased was wearing with a scissors and the team leader ordered one of her colleagues Amida to fix monitor on her whiles the the team leader Nuretta examined the deceased pulse to assertain whether she was still alive.

The witness in further said her team leader later called some doctors both national and international for help.
Upon the arrival of the doctors, she was ordered by her boss to leave since they were on early shift and so she left for her house.

In conclusion , she said the accused and the deceased were the only one that came to the hospital.
During cross examination by Lawyer Emmanuel Teddy Koroma lead defense lawyer for Abdul Kpaka, the witness said she was on duty on the 13th August 2024 when the deceased was brought to the hospital.
In further cross examination she said as a night shift nurse she starts work at 8 pm and would off at 8 am.

When asked as to whether they have a daily rooster as to the time they start work and off from work , the witness replied in the afirmative.

When asked whether the Emergency hospital has high security protection and she said yes , including CCTV camera all around the hospital.

Lawyer Koroma put it to the witness that on the day in question , all the cameras were on and the witness replied in the afirmative, adding that it will only provide evidence within a month and thereafter it will disappear all by it self .

When she was further questioned as to whether she was the CCTV camera operator , she said no and therefore do not know the storage capacity.

Lawyer Teddy asked the witness that the CCTV camera will help the court to know the exact state as to how the deceased was brought to the court, the Judge at the point stopped witness from answering that question , stating that she is not competent to answer such question .

The witness further confirmed that herself and one of their cleaners aided the deceased into the hospital on a bed when she was brought.

It was suggested to the witness that the deceased was placed on a wheelchair and not on bed when she was brought, the witness replied in the negative.

When she was asked as to the state in which the deceased was brought to the hospital, the witness said she was unconscious and helpless.

She also revealed that when a patient is brought to the hospital they receive him or her and also take details of the said patient, adding that she did same for Sia when she was brought and stripped off her clothes with a scissors because she was unable to tire it.

The witness also disclosed that it was Amida that fixed the monitor on the instruction of Nuretta, whiles Nuretta checked the pulse of the deceased.
When she was further questions as to how long she has worked at the Emergency hospital, she said for 3 years, adding that they have out patient chart form.

asked further as to whether a chart form was issued to the deceased when she was brought, the witness in reply said she cannot tell adding that she left at the time when the National and International doctors came to help her.

When asked whether she was present when Cardeo Preliminary Resuscitation (CPR) was conducted on the deceased, the witness in reply said she was not there.

In another development, the 6th Prosecution Witness Nuretta Mariatu Kamara in her examination in chief led by state counsel Yusuf Isaac Sesay said she is a nurse working at the outpatient department emergency hospital as the team leader.
Her role , she said is to supervise the nurses and ensure that doctors are always at the outpatient department, prepare monthly duty rooster that indicates the time and dates nurses should come to work.

According to her, she has been working at the emergency hospital for the past 13 years and as a team leader since last year November 2023.
” I am in permanent morning shift that runs from 8 am to 4 pm, I recognize the accused Abdul Kpaka and further recalled 13th August 2024, on that day, i was on duty at the outpatient department emergency hospital and whiles i was there asking the nurses that were on duty about the night shift which is my normal routine , then one of the security guards Abdul rushed inside and informed me about an emergency situation “, she noted.

Upon receipt of that information she said she instructed PW 5 and one of the cleaners to go and collected the patient that was in a vehicle parked outside the compound which they did.

The time she said was around 8:20 am and immediately she was brought, the witness said she observed that her upper limbs were flexible.

The emergency outpatient department she said is divided into two sections; one which is for patients whose conditions are not too serious , while the other is for patients with critical conditions and it called the critical area as it contains all the machines they used to treat and save lives.

Madam Kamara said when the patient (deceased)was brought to that critical area she was already there with Amida together with one of their nurses Fatima whom she instructed to go to the relatives (accused )of the patient for information.

She also revealed that she instructed Saminatu to tire the deceased clothes and Amida to fixed the monitor on her which they did, adding that; while Amida was fixing the monitor , she checked her pulse but said there were no signs of pulse and thereafter checked for signs of breathing but there were no signs of breathing.

The witness further explained that she also hit her shoulder and called her, but there was no response and thereafter , checked her again with the monitor which is supposed to show 4 signs, including the breathing, pressure, reading of the heart and the level of oxygen but there were no signs everything was blank.
” I immediately took the falco( a radio system) and called the team of doctors which amongst were international and local doctors and , upon their arrival, they asked me what was wrong with her , so i told them that the patient fell down , and that was what they were told”, the witness explained.

She also revealed that before the arrival of the doctors she started the CPR on the deceased, nothing that it is a procedure they do to patient that do not have pulse and also does not breath.

The deceased she said was also examined by the doctors who continued the CPR and also ordered for medicine for her which they administered on her.

The drugs she said includes adrenaline and naloxone, adding that after admistering the drugs, they continued the CPR for about 20 to 25 minutes which they stopped upon the instructions of the doctors.

The entire process of Resuscitation she said lasted for about 20 to 25 minutes and the deceased she said was declared clinically dead by the doctors.

According to the witness Clinically dead meaning medical confirmed dead.
The outpatient chart she said was handed over to Dr Kallon upon his request whiles herself and the international doctors went outside and called the accused who was at the outpatient area crying bitterly and so he was offered a seat.

The witness said she felt sorry for him so he started consoling him and further asked him questions as to what really happened to the deceased, adding that it was very difficult for him to explain because he was crying bitterly but however told her that the deceased fell and hit her mouth and then the international doctor she said revealed to the accused that Sia was already dead before she was brought to the hospital and he burst into tears
” I told him that we did all what we could to save her but to no avail but he was still crying so i became imotional and i started crying and also informed him that we do not have mortuary to keep the remains and that he should call someone to help him because of the state he was in , so he promised to call and i left him and went to continue my work, upon my return the body was wrapped and placed inside the room where corps are kept until collected by their relatives”, she narrated .

The witness said few minutes later, 3 ladies approached her, one who identified herself as sister to the accused , while the other two identified themselves as the deceased sisters, adding that the remains of the deceased were shown to them which were removed from the room and placed inside the vehicle they came with and they left.

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The outpatient chart of Sia(now deceased )when she was brought to Emergency hospital was shown to the witness for identification and she identified it.
It was marked as exhibits Y.

In his cross examination of the witness, she confirmed that Sia was declared clinically dead by the doctors.
When asked that apart from the clinically dead declaration done by doctors, if there is any other form of declaration, in reply said she is a nurse and therefore cannot declare someone dead only the doctors.

She also confirmed that she is the team leader of the outpatients department.

When she was further questioned on whether it is to her knowledge that clinically dead declaration can be reverted, the witness in reply said she could not tell.

She revealed that the deceased was brought inside the outpatient critical area in a stretcher and not bed and that forms for patient are normally filled.
When she was asked as to whether the form has details as to how the patient is brought and taken out, the witness in reply said they have.

She also revealed in cross examination that she did a physical examination on the deceased and later resuscitated her before the doctors came, adding that the process of resuscitation was done with force, stating further that it is a very difficult procedure that cannot be carried out by one person.

She explained that most of the doctors physically took part in the resuscitation of Sia.
The witness in further cross examination revealed that adrenaline helps the heart to function well and boost the energy whiles naloxone neutralize drugs in a patient system.

Madam Kamara confirmed that the CCTV footage would show clearly the state in which the deceased was brought into the critical area.

When asked as to whether a pronouncement of dead on arrival was done immediately after the patient is brought to the hospital, the witness said no to that .

The matter was adjourned to Friday 1st November 2024.