Mildenhall D C
Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, P.O. Box 30368, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
Forensic Sci Int. 2006 Nov 22;163(3):231-5. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2005.11.028. Epub 2006 Jan 10.
Two male intruders entered a house in which the sole female occupant slept having left the back door unlocked for the return of her live-in boyfriend. She awoke and saw strangers in her bedroom. The intruders ran off, one leaving a jacket behind on the kitchen floor. One of the intruders subsequently returned to recover his jacket, but in his rush to leave the house he brushed against a flowering Hypericum bush growing just outside the back door. A suspect was arrested later that day and charged with indecent assault on a female and burglary, but denied any involvement and refused to name any associate. A day following the offence the suspect's clothes were taken for forensic examination. Pollen analysis of selected parts of his clothing showed that his track pants contained 14% Hypericum pollen, denim jacket 24%, and polo shirt 27.5%. Traces of Hypericum pollen occurred on other items. Most of these pollen grains still had their cell contents preserved and were on the clothing in clumps consistent with having recently been collected by the clothing and not having been aerially dispersed. The pollen from the Hypericum bush was identical in colour, shape, development, and size range to the pollen from the clothing. The clothes had so much Hypericum pollen on them that they had to have been in direct and intimate contact with a flowering bush. Pollen evidence is by its nature circumstantial and often cannot be used on its own to convict, or more strictly to determine the truth. The suspect may have been in contact with Hypericum elsewhere, but detailed investigations indicated that this was unlikely. In 30 years of New Zealand forensic work Hypericum had only ever been found on clothing in trace amounts. This is but one way in which forensic palynology can assist law enforcement agencies to determine the history behind a criminal action, and demonstrates that forensic palynology should be considered as an integral part of any criminal investigation.
两名男性闯入者进入了一所房子，房子里唯一的女性居住者正在睡觉，她为同住的男友留了后门没锁。她醒来后看到卧室里有陌生人。闯入者逃跑了，其中一人把夹克留在了厨房地板上。后来，其中一名闯入者回来取他的夹克，但在匆忙离开房子时，他擦到了长在后门外面的一丛开花的金丝桃灌木。当天晚些时候，一名嫌疑人被捕，并被指控对一名女性进行猥亵攻击和入室盗窃，但他否认有任何牵连，并拒绝说出任何同伙的名字。犯罪发生后的第二天，嫌疑人的衣服被拿去进行法医检验。对他衣服上选定部位的花粉分析表明，他的运动裤含有14%的金丝桃花粉，牛仔夹克含有24%，polo衫含有27.5%。其他物品上也有金丝桃花粉的痕迹。这些花粉粒中的大多数仍保留着细胞内容物，并且成团地附着在衣服上，这与最近被衣服收集而不是通过空气传播的情况一致。来自金丝桃灌木的花粉在颜色、形状、发育和大小范围上与衣服上的花粉相同。衣服上有如此多的金丝桃花粉，说明它们一定与开花的灌木有过直接而密切的接触。花粉证据本质上是间接证据，通常不能单独用来定罪，或者更严格地说，不能单独用来确定真相。嫌疑人可能在其他地方接触过金丝桃，但详细调查表明这种可能性不大。在新西兰30年的法医工作中，金丝桃只在衣服上被微量发现过。这只是法医孢粉学可以帮助执法机构确定犯罪行为背后历史的一种方式，并表明法医孢粉学应被视为任何刑事调查中不可或缺的一部分。
