The Murder of Hannah Foster-Crime Documentary - Movie Review Example

Forensic Evidence By: Student’s Name Course and course code Class Institution Date The murder of Hannah Foster-crime documentary, 28/01/2016, iTV Summary of the case you viewed The case involves the murder of a British 17-year-old lady in Southampton in 14th march, 2003. It took the police and the court 5 years to pursue the case and bring the perpetrator to justice. The criminal activity was carried out by a 40-year-old Indian immigrant who had migrated to Britain 8 years earlier on grounds of marrying his long-term girlfriend who was a Briton. The activity is said to happen on the night of 14th march 2003 when Hannah and her friend Helen who spent an evening together at the pub drinking. About 100 yards, the Indian man, the perpetrator by the name Maninder Pal Singh Kohli was also drinking while keeping a close eye on them. Kohli through CCTV recordings left the pub few minutes before the victim and her friend left. The man used to drink too much and spend his time with prostitutes without the knowledge of his wife. The man must have gone to wait for Hannah on her way back home. Earlier on, Hannah had narrated to her friend Helen on two instances a man had followed her towards her home. While on the way back home by foot which was a half a mile away after escorting her friend to board a bus according to CCTV footage, Hannah was abducted by Kohli into his sandwich delivery van which his wife confessed he had left with. The van was recorded in several streets on the same night by CCTV cameras moving towards Portsmouth where Hannah’s body was recovered two days later near West End. In the van, Hannah tried to reach the police through 999 calls, but she was unable to speak. The call recorded in the tape produced in court had a background voice of a fridge which the van had according to investigations and a deep voice of a man with an Asian accent. After the recovery of her body in the bush, her phone was also recovered in a recycling plant in Portsmouth through a mobile tracking system. According to forensic evidence of blood collected at the crime scene, her clothes and jacket were full of blood according to forensic analysis belonged to profile which was not of a Briton since it lacked in the Britain national DNA database. Semen samples collected in the van matched the DNA profile found in Hanna’s clothes while here hair was also harvested in the van. On pathological forensic examination, her thighs were twisted outwards with bruises on her neck. Pin-point haemorrhage was recorded in her head and eyes indicating a sign of neck strangulation. Serum analysis showed no evidence of the use of drugs and alcohol. Evaluation of how modern technology was used in the collection and analysis of forensic evidence in relation to the case Modern technology was highly depended in the gathering of evidence in the murder case of Hannah Foster. Most of the evidence was reliable that led to the arrest of the murderer in India while trying to run to Nepal. CCTV footages in various instances were collected and evaluated for possible links to her murder. The ones gathered at the pub indicated the presence of the two ladies, Hannah and her friend with an Indian man about 100-yard distances from them. The footage too shows the man leaving the building some few minutes earlier than the two. Later Hannah was recorded to walk past the bus station after accompanying her friend there. The CCTV cameras in the street show a regular record of the van that was claimed to be used by Kohli in abducting and transporting the victim. Elsewhere in the airport, CCTV indicates the departure of Kohli to India 4 days after the incident, trying to escape from being convicted. Automatic emergency phone call recording technology was used to record the 999 call Hannah made while in the vehicle that provided evidence of her terrified nature through her tremor voice, the presence of a man with a profound Asian accent and the refrigerator’s sound in the background linked to the one that was in the van. Through mobile phone tracking system using the signals on Hannah’s phone, the intelligence service was able to track the movements of Hannah and eventually locate it where it had been discarded with her bag in the recycling plant. DNA forensic analysis technology by use of DNA sequencer and comparison with the information in the national DNA database was used to eliminate the possibility of the perpetrator being a British citizen (Aloraer, Hassan, Albarzinji and Goodwin, 2015). Samples of the murderer’s blood and semen were collected from Hannah’s clothes and van respectively and analysed to get the results which matched to be the same person. They were also compared to the mouth swab samples from his two sons and wife. They indicated a 100% match. It was therefore concluded that the victim was raped before being murdered. Technologically enhanced pathological evidence by use of alternative light photography also showed evidence of the victim being killed by strangulation (Nittis, and Stark, 2014). Several photos were also taken at the crime scene to be used in the analysis and relation of earlier findings. Scientific analysis through facial mapping was used in identifying the seven van owners who were suspected but eventually conclusion was made on Kohli as the prime suspect. Sources of DNA found at the crime scene Evidence collected in this case was obtained from various sources. The primary DNA evidence was collected from Hannah’s clothes that were found at the location of her body. Her clothes were blood stained which also comprised a sample from the perpetrator according to analysis and comparison with the data in national DNA database. Semen evidence that was matched with the blood evidence profile on the victim’s clothes was obtained from a Van used by Kohli. In the van, there also was hair whose DNA profile matched that of Hannah. Besides these, fingerprint evidence was also collected in the van that was similar to those of the victim and perpetrator. Explain the use and reliability of DNA profiles in the elimination of suspects and conviction of criminals With the collected DNA forensic evidence, DNA fingerprinting was done for comparison between the existing database typing. The reliability of profiling is high; however, the possibility of coincidentally implicating an innocent individual with a coincidental match in DNA profile is also present (Anniss, 2014). For that matter, a series of analysis and comparison is done on the DNA loci to ensure the similarity index is high in most of the DNA loci. In cases of similarity being in single loci or few of them in the DNA between the suspect’s and the sample collected, other evidence are deemed crucial and more reliable than DNA profiling. A number of samples may be used from different suspects and with comparison in similarity; the gap is narrowed through the elimination of whom DNA don’t match that of the sample collected (Gardner, 2012. Comparative analysis of a sample obtained claimed to be that of Kohli, in this case, was done to check the reliability was done with the use of mouth swabs from his two sons. It was established that there was a similarity. Eventually, when a sample was collected from Sigh Kohli, it matched all the semen and blood samples collected from scenes of crime and those of his children hence acting as a confirmatory of his involvement in the rape and murder of Hannah Foster. To ensure reliability and successful elimination of suspects, thorough, accurate profiling is done by use of high-tech machines able to identify minor similarity details. The forensic experts are also bound to provide a non-contaminated enough forensic sample for analysis. Explain the precautions used to protect forensic evidence at the crime scene in the viewed case.  Throughout the collection, analysis and presentation of forensic evidence, in this case, proper handling was maintained. To ensure crime scene integrity, the site where the victim’s body was found at West End in a bush was secured and protected as a no access zone by the public before a full examination of the site and collection of evidence was done (Márquez-grant & Roberts, 2012). Proper documentation having been done about the situation of the body at the moment it was found by taking photographs and recording series of events, contamination was prevented by observing a number of precautions that included: no investigation officer, forensic expert of member of the public was allowed to touch unnecessarily or come close to the scene nor littering the area. The investigative team took precaution by refraining from taking any food stuff at the site in order not to contaminate nor tamper with the evidence. Cigarette remains and ashes are known to affect the polymerised chain reaction process while profiling a DNA sample (Kobilinsky, 2012). They wore protective gear such as gloves and facemask while avoiding talking over the samples collected to prevent contamination (Houck, Crispino & Mcadam, 2012). Swabbing of the blood samples was done by use of sterile cotton and minimal sterilised water as much of it could make the sample wet and aid in its degradation. The sample underwent a process of drying it for preservation and maintenance of its reliability. To avoid any tampering and destruction, evidence collected were kept in different sample containers with proper labelling. The chain of handling of the samples was recorded to keep track of those handling it. The chain of custody was kept as short as possible to reduce the high probability of contamination in case of many handlers. This recording of events was necessary for accountability and sustained accuracy. No sample was allowed to touch the surfaces of objects or other biological samples to maintain their integrity. During transportation, the semen, blood and hair evidence collected at the where the victim’s body was found and in the van were kept in a locked cool box to maintain cold temperatures and avoid degradation of the DNA samples by high temperatures (Latham, 2014). During analysis, a portion of the samples was provided to the forensic experts in for analysis to avoid misuse and loss due to mishandling or accident. Bibliography Aloraer, D, Hassan, N, Albarzinji, B and Goodwin, W 2015, ‘Collection protocols for the recovery of biological samples’, Forensic Science International: Genetics Supplement Series, vol.5, pp.e207-e209.< http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fsigss.2015.09.083>. Anniss, M 2014, Criminal profiling,New York, Gareth Stevens Publishing. Gardner, R 2012, Practical crime scene processing and investigation, Boca Raton, FL, CRC Press. Houck, M. Crispino, F & Mcadam, T 2012, The science of crime scenes. Waltham, MA, Academic Press. Kobilinsky, L 2012, Forensic chemistry handbook. Hoboken, N.J., John Wiley & Sons. Latham, K, 2014, ‘Review of: Introduction to Forensic DNA Evidence for Criminal Justice Professionals’, J Forensic Sci, vol.59(4), pp.1170-1170. . Márquez-grant, N & Roberts, J 2012, Forensic ecology handbook: from crime scene to court. Chichester, John Wiley & Sons. Nittis, M. and Stark, M, 2014, ‘Evidence based practice: Laboratory feedback informs forensic specimen collection in NSW’, Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, vol.25, pp.38-44. < http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jflm.2014.04.008>. Read More