A joint UCT and UWC Forensics Module

A common misconception is that forensics is the investigation of death. In fact, by definition anything 'forensic' means simply that it pertains to the law. Forensic accountancy, forensic psychiatry, forensic ballistics and of course forensic medicine are all specialties used to investigate breeches of the law, but not necessarily murder.

The joint forensics module presented in 2003 and again in 2004 as part of the Honours programme in the Faculty of Health Science at UCT and in the Department of Biotechnology at UWC has been an opportunity to introduce students to a range of forensic topics as experienced by scientists at these two institutions and related facilities. This is not a complete course on forensics. Our experience has primarily been in the recovery of information for skeletonised remains (often called forensic anthropology) and the application of DNA technology to the identification and relatedness of individuals.

The module was divided into two sections: Working with the Dead (at UCT) and Working with the Living (at UWC).

In the section on Working with the Dead, students in 2003 literally did get a chance to "work with the dead" as the forensic module overlapped with the archaeological excavation of the old slave cemetery in Prestwich Street, Green Point. No such luck happened in 2004, but we did 'bury' two skeletons in the lab and the students spent a glorious afternoon digging out the bodies and recording the evidence.

Still in the lab at UCT students reviewed the process of decomposition of both soft tissue and bone. They also spent some time on an introduction to the wide range of information that can be gleaned from the human skeleton. Working with real bones, the students examined how age, sex and biographic information can be observed on bony remains. They also were introduced to the difficult of task of putting a name on a body. For the most part bodies that have been skeletonised are no longer identifiable as specific individuals, but clues in the shape of the bones and teeth can lead researchers to make identification if documentary or photographic records are available for the missing person.

The University of the Western Cape segment of the course involved the DNA lab in the Department of Biotechnology. Students experienced the techniques of forensic DNA typing and applied this knowledge to various 'case study' problems. Both sections of the course emphasised how scientific data were recounted and considered in the courtroom scenario and the UWC component ended with a visit to the police forensic lab at Delft.

By far the most important aspect of the module was the input from so many different specialist forensic workers in Cape Town. Special thanks goes to Inspectors Kok and Otto of the SAPS forensic unit in Delft, Professor Alan Morris and Dr. David Querido of UCT, Professors Vince Phillips, Sean Davison and Neil Leat of the University of the Western Cape, and to Dr. David Klatzow, a private forensic science practitioner who gave his time and expertise for the benefit of the students.

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