Victim 'must have been carried' to place where corpse was found

Everything indicates that Rachel Bowdler died at about 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning and that she must have been carried on site as she was physically unable to get there on her own given the state she was in, clinical forensic physician Mario Scerri told jurors yesterday.

Dr Scerri was testifying in the trial by jury of Jason Decelis, 29, his father Carmel and his mother Concetta, both 57, who are pleading not guilty to Ms Bowdler's homicide when they dumped her in a field known as Ras Il-Gebel, in the limits of Mgarr on May 13, 2001 after she suffered a drug overdose.

Addressing jurors at the start of the trial on Monday, the prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Anthony Barbara, said that on the day of her death, Ms Bowdler met Jason Decelis and went to his mother's apartment in Bugibba. After they had sex and watched television together, she started complaining she was feeling unwell.

At about 6 p.m. she started sweating and salivating, and when Jason Decelis recognised the signs of a drug overdose he called his father. His mother arrived from work later.

At 6 a.m. the following morning, after leaving her fighting for her life for 12 long hours, the three family members decided it would be better to dump the dying woman elsewhere so as not to get into trouble, Dr Barbara said.

Dr Scerri said Ms Bowdler had been placed where she was found and did not move after having been left there. She must have been there for six to nine hours before she was found.

Ms Bowdler was found by a farmer at about 10 a.m. and Dr Scerri examined her at about 12.30 p.m. He said the victim was either dead or unconscious when she was placed there.

The victim had fresh needle marks on her right arm and left hand, which showed she had been repeatedly injected in the same area before. She was found wearing her trousers the wrong way round, indicating that it was most probable that someone had put on the trousers for her either while she was unconscious or when she was already dead.

Dr Scerri said the victim died of pulmonary edema, a congested heart failure due to a heroin overdose. Pulmonary edema could take hours and can be treated if one seeks help on time.

Pathologist Brigitte Ellul, who carried out an autopsy on the girl's corpse, said Ms Bowdler had a history of intravenous drug abuse. The 18-year-old had lost her boyfriend in a traffic accident at Easter a few weeks before and had come to Malta from Gozo a few days before she was found dead. Two days before she died she had spoken to her father over the phone. Ms Bowdler had undergone a drug rehabilitation programme some years before.

Dr Ellul said the victim was wearing clean black socks, which indicated she had not walked on the spot where she was found.

Psychiatrist Joseph Cassar said he saw Ms Bowdler as a patient at Mount Carmel Hospital between October 1998 and November 1999, where she was on a treatment order under the Mental Health Act. She was only 15 at the time and had behavioural problems. He explained the girl had a problem with those in authority, including her father and step mother, and was an occasional cocaine user. Drugs made her behaviour worse, he said.

Ms Bowdler was often given leave from hospital and urine tests were undertaken on her return. On some occasions these showed she had used cocaine or cannabis while on leave, but Ms Bowdler was not an addict but abused of drugs when she felt like, Dr Cassar said.