Warning: This story deals with disturbing and graphic subject matter that may upset and trigger some readers. Discretion is advised.
A sexual assault expert testifying at the trial of a man accused of killing a girl in a B.C. park says she suffered injuries more consistent with childbirth that would have made it difficult for her to walk.
Dr. Tracy Pickett, who specializes in emergency and clinical forensic medicine, says the laceration to the girl’s vagina happened before her death and is “very uncommon.”
She told the British Columbia Supreme Court trial of Ibrahim Ali that the girl’s injury would have been very painful and required at least one stitch.
Pickett testified Monday that she used crime scene photos and the autopsy report to form her opinions that the victim had vaginal and anal injuries that were consistent with blunt force trauma.
Ali has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of the teen, whose body was found in Burnaby’s Central Park early on July 19, 2017, just hours after her mother reported her missing.
A forensic biologist testified last week that the DNA of the accused was found inside the body of the girl, who can’t be named because of a publication ban.