‘No major mistakes’ in autopsy report

An American forensics expert told a Tokyo court yesterday that she found “no major mistakes” in the autopsy report of Irishwoman Nicola Furlong. She agreed that the exchange student had been strangled in a Tokyo hotel last May but disputed certain statements made by the author of the report.

“I do agree that she died from strangulation,” said Dr Marianne Hamel, a US forensics pathologist, who also acknowledged that strong pressure had probably been applied to Ms Furlong’s neck.

Photos taken during the autopsy, however, were not conclusive enough to “definitively” come to some of the conclusions made by Dr Kenichi Yoshida, an expert in forensic medicine at the University of Tokyo, who appeared as a witness on Tuesday.