Frances Obiefuleh murder trial: DNA matching victim found in blood on defendant's clothing, court hears

Norbert Maiksner, 48 from Timsbury Crescent in Havant, has been accused of murdering Frances Obiefuleh at an address in Havant. He is also charged with one count of child neglect.

At Portsmouth Crown Court this morning (Monday, March 23) the jury heard forensic evidence that outlined how blood ‘likely’ belonging to Ms Obiefuleh was found on the clothes he wore when he was arrested.

Ms Obiefuleh’s body was found at her home on April 17 last year, with Maiksner arrested that same day.

Giving evidence, forensic scientist Karen O’Gorman from Key Forensic Services, told the court what had been found from a variety of wet and dry swabs, taken from Maiksner at Portsmouth Police Station, and the victim’s body.

She said: “A DNA profile is a series of numbers that represent specific points in a person’s DNA. It can be generated from biological samples such as blood, saliva or hair.”

Blood splatters found on Maiksner’s clothing when he was arrested was tested for DNA. Swabs from his t-shirt, trousers, trainers and fingernails found the DNA to be “at least a billion times more likely” to be Ms Obiefuleh’s.

No matches were found on his jumper, hat or hands.

On Ms Obiefuleh’s body, swabs from her fingernails reached the same conclusion - that DNA in the blood samples was “at least a billion times more likely” to be Maiksner’s.

As previously reported by The News, police found Ms Obiefuleh with blue tape wrapped around her face and head. A post-mortem ruled her cause of death as smothering.

A roll of tape found near her body was tested for blood, which found the majority DNA profile to be her blood. Maiksner’s DNA profile was “poorly represented”, Ms O’Gorman told the court.

She also told the court that she was not asked to conclude how the blood came to be on either Maiksner’s clothing or Ms Obiefuleh’s body.

(Proceeding)