Forensic Fridays, Ed. 15 28 April 2023
Yesterday we celebrated Freedom Day in South Africa, which falls in the month of April which also happens to be Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) - the irony being that our young women and children in South Africa feel anything but free and safe, as the incidence of gender based violence and femicide in South Africa remains high.
The passing of our DNA legislation and the establishment of a DNA Database in 2015 was however a game changer in this narrative and has become an invaluable tool in identifying and bringing to book, violent sexual offenders in South Africa, in particular serial rapists, such as Mki, now serving life in prison for 30 rapes. While SAAM is predominantly a survivor centred initiative, I am also a strong advocate for the maxim that we should be preventing tomorrow’s victims: and a DNA database is arguably one of the most powerful tools to help us do this - the early identification of rapists through a DNA database, takes these predators off the street and prevents them from offending again. This week we look at some of the efforts being made in Africa by organisations and stakeholders that have been at the forefront of the push towards better forensic DNA capabilities on the continent to combat sexual violence.
?Meanwhile, the unbelievable, yet true crime story of the "Facebook Rapist", #thabobester continues to unfold, as this week we heard that DNA results have now positively identified the charred remains found in Bester’s cell. While the parents of the now known deceased are heartbroken with this news, they have also been desperately looking for their son since his disappearance last year - and without DNA they would still be searching for their son, as there was no other means available in this case to positively identify the body. We discuss the process of kinship analysis below (with an example provided by Prof. Bruce Budowle), which is the methodology used to establish identity when the only reference sample available is that of an assumed family member, in this case, the deceased's mother. This is not to be confused with familial searching, which I heard in the Thabo Bester briefings in Parliament last week was being loosely referred to as one in the same thing. Learn more about these two important DNA identification tools below.
?And as promised, this week we get the inside scoop on the one and only Prof, Kelly Knight , better known as @kellythescientist. I caught up with this Rockstar of a scientist, who is also our DNA Crusader of the week and just love her unapologetic authenticity, her range of fabulous DNA dresses and hearing about how she is breaking new ground and bringing a special kind of magic into forensic science. Read more below, you don’t want to miss this!
Protecting our little Angels
#saam2023 is described as a time for advocates, survivors and the community to come together to support survivors of sexual violence, increase knowledge and awareness, and identify strategies and resources to prevent sexual violence. A crisis centre which is doing just that is a very special place known as Angels Care, a child friendly crisis facility founded by a true philanthropist and crusader of note, geneticist, Dr Carolyn Hancock , fondly known to all as “Coo”
Dr Hancock says that most victims who visit their centre come from areas of extreme poverty, such as informal settlements and tragically, about 60% of cases are children less than 12 years of age.
Says Dr Hancock, "In terms of the services supplied by the Police Services, they are exceptionally under resourced, and the closest place that children can obtain proper medical assistance is at hospitals which are at least 60 kilometres away from their homes and schools. Consequently survivors often have to wait several hours at police stations and have to repeat their “story” to a number of different officers before being assisted, with some cases of abuse where officers even discourage the reporting of the incident. Only after the police have opened a case will they then help with transport to a medical facility for the survivor to receive treatment and where forensic evidence will be collected. This prolonged and challenging process often leads to the survivor feeling like they have been through a form a “secondary assault” and they are left without hope and certainly without the assurance of on-going assistance. "
Recognising this issue in her community, Dr Hancock developed a public partnership with government stakeholders which paradigm which she is hopeful can be emulated throughout Africa. In the same way as for example, the Thuthuzela Care Centres provide a holistic service to victims of sexual abuse, so the rape crisis centre at Angels Care Centre is an example that could be the first of many centres operated by non-profit organisations that have good working relationships with relevant governmental stakeholders. Such centres could not only monitor levels of abuse in more rural communities, but also ensure that vital forensic evidence is actually collected and used to ensure the identification and conviction of offenders, and bring about emotional healing to survivors. Most importantly, the centres will be a welcoming and safe place for women and children to come when they need help the most!
Follow these Angels HERE.
FORENSIC APPROACHES TO JUSTICE
Management of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Uganda
While the establishment of DNA laws and policies remains limited in Africa, there has recently been significant development of forensic platforms in many African regions, such as in Uganda. We spoke to the Director of Forensic Services of the Ugandan Police Force, Andrew K. Mubiru about the strides being made there to prioritise and track repeat offenders with DNA.
"In Uganda, efforts are being made to advocate for the immediate response to SGBV cases with the primary focus being on the safety and wellbeing of the survivor. This is currently being achieved through a multi-sectoral approach involving the provision of medical care, counselling, and support services. The collection of forensic evidence is prioritised to maximize its accuracy and usefulness. Additional efforts are underway with all stakeholders to roll-out a One-Stop Center (OSC) model that will significantly enhance the management SGBV through providing survivors with a comprehensive and coordinated response. The OSC model will also incorporate on-site forensic capabilities."
In the past, the biometric records of offenders only comprised of fingerprints and facial features. However, Andrew says that the ongoing review of the legal framework will provide for the inclusion of DNA profiles of offenders as part of the criminal record. Central to this approach will be the establishment of a criminal DNA database with a specific sex-offenders index. READ MORE HERE
IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK IN AFRICA: a valuable new resource and a publication from Africa!
This week Vanessa attended and presented at the ACMS' 2nd International Consortium Meeting on Justice and Medico-legal Capacity Building in Africa, and was shown around the ICRC's new Missing Persons Website. We were blown away by the available resources in its library, the variety of courses and programs offered as well as the portal created for organisations to add their information and upcoming events. Link here to benefit from this invaluable platform.
And congrats to Kate Megan Reid @forensicsUCT on publishing this excellent paper! Kate's research on the number of unidentified bodies experienced in different facilities, found, on average, that developing countries experienced more than double the number of unidentified bodies when compared to developed nations. While different legislations and infrastructures governing these facilities, varied greatly, Kate found that the most common issue faced was the lack of standardised procedures for forensic human identification. Further the need for investigative databases was highlighted. Link below to read this important study.
KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY
Kinship Analysis and Familial Searching
In the ongoing true crime story of Facebook Rapists and Murderer, #thabobester we heard this last week that the body found in Bester’s cell had been positively identified. The identity of the deceased male was established through a DNA comparison with the deceased mother’s DNA. The victim has been identified as Katlego Mpholo, missing for over a year according to his family who had last seen him in March last year. Mpholo’s father, said the family was extremely heartbroken by the news which they received last Friday from police.
The identification of the charred remains was achieved through a process called Kinship analysis, which, while similar in concept, is distinct from that of familial searching. The two approaches were confused in a recent briefing about the case in Parliament, and we thought it a good opportunity to distinguish between the two identification processes used to identify family relationships with DNA.
Kinship analysis involves comparing the DNA profiles of individuals to determine the degree of relatedness between them. This can be used to establish biological relationships, such as paternity or siblinghood, or to identify more distant relatives, such as cousins or grandparents. Kinship analysis is often used in forensic science to trace family lineages and solve cases of unknown parentage or missing persons.
Familial searching, on the other hand, involves searching a government maintained database of DNA profiles to identify potential relatives of the unknown contributor of an item of evidence. This is usually done by comparing the DNA sample taken from the crime scene to the DNA profiles in a law enforcement database, such as CODIS (Combined DNA Index System). If there is a degree of genetic sharing found, it can suggest that the donor might be a biological relative of the individual in the database, such as a sibling, parent or child. This information can then be used to narrow down substantially the pool of suspects or to gather more evidence for an investigation. ?
Familial searching is also distinct from direct comparative searching insofar as it identifies inexact (or partial) matches as opposed to exact matches in a DNA database. As the name suggests, familial searching looks for similar (as opposed to identical) profiles in the databases which may indicate a kinship relationship between the donors of the DNA profiles. Direct comparison matches, also known as high-stringency matches, require all alleles to match exactly at all the STR markers in the NFDD (full forensic profile matches). In contrast, kinship-based searches are indirect comparisons which identify two or more profiles, although not being an exact match, show a sufficient degree of genetic similarity to indicate that a familial relationship may exist.
While kinship analysis and familial searching both involve using DNA to identify family relationships, they differ in their processes. Kinship analysis is typically used to establish biological relationships on a case-case basis or in a one to may comparisons, such as in a mass disaster investigation. While familial searching is specifically designed to identify potential suspects by searching a government maintained DNA database to develop investigative leads in criminal investigations. Additionally, kinship analysis often requires the participation and cooperation of the individuals being tested, while familial searching can be done without their knowledge or consent.
In the case of Thabo Bester, the police were unable to determine the identity of the deceased. They collected DNA samples from the remains but with no match in the DNA database. The police then used kinship analysis to try to identify the body by comparing the DNA sample with possible biological relatives, who could provide a DNA sample for comparison. Here, the DNA sample taken from the remains found in the cell were compared to the DNA of a suspected mother of the deceased. The analysis provided a statistical probability supporting a biological relationship between the two. The more genetic markers that match, the greater is the support that the two individuals are related. We asked Prof. Bruce Budowle to help us understand this better:
Consider this example of a simple trio pedigree for a paternity test kindly provided to us by Prof. Bruce Budowle:?In the top panel there are only four alleles for the genetic marker to consider designated A, B, C, and D.
The mother is type BD and the child is type AB. Assuming the mother is the biological mother of the child, the maternal allele contributed to the child is allele B. Therefore the paternal allele contributed to the child by her biological father is allele A. The alleged father is type AC. Since he carries the A allele, he cannot be excluded as possibly (but not absolutely) being the father of the child.
In the bottom panel, there are four alleles designated A, B, C, D. The mother is type BD and the child is type AB. Assuming the mother is the biological mother of the child, the maternal allele contributed to the child is allele B. Therefore the paternal allele contributed to the child by her biological father is allele A (as in the top panel). Since the alleged father is type CD, he cannot be the contributor of the A allele observed in the child, barring a mutation. Therefore, the alleged father is excluded as the biological father.
#DNACRUSADER OF THE WEEK
PROF. Kelly Knight Forensic Science Professor, Director of FOCUS STEM Programs for Underrepresented Girls, Science Education Researcher
Who is @Kellythescientist and how has she pushed scientific boundaries?
For so long, science has been looked at as something that is black and white.?There was a single stereotype about what a scientist looks like and how a scientist is supposed to talk and act.?I have really made it my mission to push back against those stereotypes.?Yes, there are some scientists who fit within that typical stereotype and there's nothing wrong with that but I think it's important to show how multi-dimensional scientists can be.?We come from different backgrounds, we speak and write differently, and we have hobbies outside of working in the laboratory and we are not walking around just thinking about equations all day.?As we continue to think about how we encourage diversity in science, this is just one way to do that, by showing the many sides of science.?
Young (if not all) scientists working in Africa often operate in very challenging, often under-resourced and limited environments - any advice to help keep them motivated?
I want scientists in Africa to know that their work is so important.?For many of us, forensic science is a field we are committed to because we are passionate about the work and the impact it makes on the lives of others.?I tell my students all of the time that they should never go into the field for the money or the accolades because that's not the reality for most forensic scientists.?Add on top of that the challenging, under-resourced, and limited environments that some forensic scientists may have to work in, it makes it that much harder to stay motivated when you are constantly met with barriers.??Always remember that as scientists, we are problem-solvers by nature and there is so much creativity and innovation within us that you can often find the solutions to many problems we may be facing just by tapping into that power within ourselves.?
?How can they keep up to date with cutting edge?forensic technology?
It has been amazing to see how many resources have become accessible to forensic scientists all over the world which allow?us to stay up to date.?For example, the Global Forensic and Justice Center at Florida International University has recently launched their Forensic Research Library making scholarly forensic science research publications free for anyone to access. Also, although the COVID-19 pandemic has been awful for so many reasons, it has also allowed us to connect in ways we never considered before.??If you are able to access an internet connection, you can attend forensic seminars and conferences virtually from all over the world.?
There is a scarcity of scientific papers published by scientists in Africa - despite the excellent work I?have seen throughout?Africa that is so deserving of?recognition: so my question to you is:?how would you change this? what would you say to help change this?narrative..??
Everyone's voice needs to be heard in this field, regardless of what part of the world you are in.?The scientific problems we face require a diversity of thought, perspectives, experiences, and resources.?If we only hear from one group of individuals consistently, we are limited in our capacity to fully understand the extent of various scientific issues and how to address them in ways that are economical, equitable, and accessible.?For example, I was just sharing in a previous response some advice for scientists who may be operating in challenging and under-resourced environments, however, the best advice is really not going to come from me as an outsider.?Many of the answers can be found within your own communities where there is already so much brilliance that exists.?
There is no one better to address these issues head on than those who are already intimately familiar with them because they are living it every day so the world absolutely needs to hear from the scientists in Africa.?They are a wealth of knowledge and contribute so much to the field of forensic science.?This is one of the many reasons I love the efforts of DNAforAfrica because it provides a much?needed platform for having the voices of African scientists heard and recognized.
Do you consider yourself lucky? I wouldn't consider myself lucky.?As my mother often reminds me, I would instead consider myself blessed.?Saying I was lucky would assume that the amazing opportunities I have had and the things that I have accomplished were simply due to chance.?And because I still have to battle imposter syndrome daily, honestly, sometimes I do feel that way because there are moments where I feel undeserving but then I remember all of the prayers, hard work, and intentionality that I have put into accomplishing my goals and luck is no longer a thought.?I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to have the platform I have and to be able to do the work that I love every day.
Define success: When I think about success, I think about it as a journey and not a destination.?We will experience moments of success throughout our life but in between those moments, there will be lots of failures or as I like to reframe them, lots of lessons.?
?When, if ever, have you failed, and how did you learn from that experience? When I experience a failure or a lesson, I remind myself that it is a normal part of the journey.?These lessons only make us better.?I use my failures as an opportunity to learn more about myself and decide how I want to redirect my efforts.??
Share your vision for young forensic scientists today? My hope for young forensic scientists today is that they will always remember to stay open-minded and to never be afraid to question why things are the way they are.?I want them to be comfortable with not only questioning others but I also want them to be comfortable with looking inwardly and questioning themselves as well. The work we do as forensic scientists requires us to be ethical and unbiased.?That means we have to also be reflecting inwardly as well.?We shouldn't settle for doing things a certain way just because that's the way it's always been done.? I am hopeful that this new generation of young forensic scientists will be bold and will use their creativity to develop innovations in the field that have never before been thought of.
One word to describe yourself. Ambitious.?There are so many things I want to do in my life and so many ways I want to impact the lives of others.?I have never been okay with settling for what's considered "normal" or comfortable and I feel like it is my ambition (and maybe some stubbornness ??) that keep?me pushing towards higher aspirations.?
?What’s one thing you’d want to remove from your daily or weekly work routine?
Honestly, I'd love to remove email from my daily routine ?.?It takes up so much time and I'd much rather be talking with people face-to-face or planning a trip to Africa ??!
(Yes! we are plotting to bring this powerhouse to our shores soon! VL)
It's #FreedomDay in South but this bench tells a different story
Young girls and women in South Africa feel anything but free and safe but these benches but provide safe spaces for girls and women while making the problem of assault more visible. All unique in design, they are known as 'Rock Girl Benches' after the slogan “strike a woman, strike a rock” and are placed in front of shops and other conspicuous locations as a place of safety and refuge. Moreover, each bench is linked to a toll free number which connects women to opportunities, resources and support.
ONLY A FEW DAYS LEFT TO REGISTER FOR HIDS 2023. Don't miss out on two days of thought?provoking sessions, inspirational talks, and demos showcasing the latest innovations in forensic DNA technology.
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1 年Awesome