Case management on Adib inquest set for Jan 18

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): The case management on the inquest to determine the cause of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim's death has been fixed on Jan 18, says Solicitor General III Datuk Mohd Hanafiah Zakaria.

He said the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) had filed the case document at the Registrar's Office of the Shah Alam Court Complex on Thursday (Dec 27) and the court fixed Jan 18 for case management.

The inquest proceeding would be held at the Coroner's Court that will sit at the Shah Alam Court Complex, he told the media on Friday.

On Thursday, Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, in a post on Facebook, said that an inquest would be held to determine the cause of the firefighter's death during the riots at a temple in Selangor last month.

He said Attorney General Tommy Thomas, in his capacity as the Public Prosecutor, would direct a magistrate to conduct the inquiry under Section 339(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Muhyiddin said the magistrate conducting the inquest would have wide powers under Section 328 of the Criminal Procedure Code to determine the cause of death.

The section states that “the words cause of death include not only the apparent cause of death as ascertainable by inspection or post-mortem examination of the body of the deceased, but also all matters necessary to enable an opinion to be formed as to the manner in which the deceased came by his death and as to whether his death resulted in any way from, or was accelerated by, any unlawful act or omission on the part of any other person”.

Muhammad Adib, 24, of the Subang Jaya Fire and  Rescue Station, was severely injured when he arrived in the vicinity of the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in USJ 25, Subang Jaya, early on Nov 27 to put out a car fire during riots that erupted purportedly over the relocation of the house of worship.

Some people claimed that he was injured in a vehicle accident while others alleged that he was assaulted by several rioters.

He succumbed to his injuries and died at the National heart Institute (IJN) on Dec 17. – Bernama