Mandibular fracture following stab injury with a knife

Stab injuries of the face accompanied by fractures of the jaws are rare. The report deals with the case of a young man, who suffered a penetrating stab injury to the cheek and fracture of the mandible in an assault. The forensic questions to be answered were if the findings were compatible with a stab and subsequent fracture, if one of the confiscated instruments could have been the causative weapon and if the injury had to be assessed as life-threatening. Both the soft and the hard tissue injury confirmed the assumption that they were caused by a stab. It was not possible, however, to assign the injury to a specific knife from the submitted exhibits on the basis of the clinical findings. In the discussion the serious nature of stab injuries in the facial region is emphasized.