161. Errors in the collection and preservation of evidence. It is on record that Claudina Velásquez’s body was dressed in: (i) a pair of blue jeans with the zipper undone; (ii) a black blouse back to front; (iii) black sandals; (iv) a bloodstained brassiere (white/pink) that had been placed between her jeans and her hips; (v) bloodstained pink underpants, and (vi) a belt lay nearby. In addition, she had a navel piercing with a ring and a choker-type necklace (supra para. 56). Even though all this evidence was recorded in the initial investigation reports, the victim’s clothes were not collected as evidence that would have permitted its analysis in the laboratory and a search for fingerprints, hairs or biological elements such as semen and other residues, but were returned to Claudina Velásquez’s parents. Also, even though the ring in her navel and the choker-type necklace were recorded, the Court has no information on what happened to them. 162. Irregularities in the autopsy and the autopsy record. The Court has verified that the Judiciary’s forensic physician who performed Claudina Velásquez’s autopsy incurred in irregularities when performing it and omitted relevant information when preparing the respective report on August 16. First, in the autopsy report he failed to indicate the name of the victim, the distance from which the gun was fired, the approximate time and place of death, whether the victim’s genitalia showed signs of rape, and the starting and finishing time of the procedure. In view of these omissions, the assistant prosecutor had to request that the report be expanded and corrected several times and it was not until December 2007 – that is, more than two years after the autopsy was performed – that it was possible to obtain precise information about it (supra para. 61). Second, in both the autopsy report and in its expanded and corrected versions, the forensic physician failed to refer to the bruising on the left side of the victim’s face, information that had already been recorded in the investigation on August 13, 2005,254 and required a forensic examination. Third, even though the report mentioned that the body of Claudina Velásquez had scratch marks on the right side of her back, on the left knee and the back of the left foot, a forensic examination was not made, and the report did not contain an adequate description of these injuries or indicate the characteristics of form, patterns and signs that could have revealed whether they occurred before or after her death. It should be recalled that, in the course of the criminal investigation, injuries to the victim’s body were recorded that were apparently without vital reaction; in other words, they occurred after her death (supra paras. 56, 158 and 165).255 Fourth, during the autopsy, the forensic physician failed to take the victim’s fingerprints; thus, that the assistant prosecutor and the criminal investigation experts of the Public Prosecution Service had to go to the funeral home to take the fingerprints. 163. Irregularities and failure to determine the time of death. The Court notes that contradictions and irregularities occurred in the course of the criminal investigation in relation to determination of the time of death of Claudina Velásquez and that, ten years later, there is still no certainty about the approximate time it occurred. First, the death certificate issued on August 13, 2005, indicated that the victim died at 6.30 a.m.256 Second, the report of the forensic medical examination at the scene of the crime on August 30, 2005, indicated that this examination was performed at 8.10 a.m. on August 13, 2005, and that the estimated time since the death of the victim was from one to three hours, 257 which suggests that the approximate Cf. Report of the investigator of the Unit to Combat Murders of Women of the PNC Criminal Investigation Service of August 13, 2005 (evidence file, folios 68 to 71), and Photographic album of the actions taken on August 13, 2005, at the place where the body of Claudina Velásquez was discovered (evidence file, folio 2802). See also, the Ombudsman’s Report on verification of violations of the obligation to investigate in the case of Claudina Isabel Velásquez Paiz (evidence file, folio 111). 255 See, the Ombudsman’s Report on verification of violations of the obligation to investigate in the case of Claudina Isabel Velásquez Paiz (evidence file, folio 111). 256 Cf. Death certificate of Claudina Isabel Velásquez Paiz (evidence file, folio 3016). 257 Cf. Report on the external medical examination and forensic processing of the crime scene dated August 30, 2005 (evidence file, folios 35 and 36). 254 58