SHAH ALAM: The postmortem on fireman Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim indicate that his injuries did not come from any assault and were more likely caused by impact with a vehicle, says a forensics expert.
Dr Ahmad Hafizam Hasmi told the inquest into Muhammad Adib’s death that it was unlikely that the fireman was beaten up during the early morning of Nov 27 last year.
Dr Ahmad Hafizam is the 24th witness in the inquest and was the forensic doctor who conducted the postmortem.
He said that there were no injuries to indicate that the 24-year-old fireman was beaten up.
“The pattern of injuries on the deceased's thorax was inconsistent with that of being kicked or punched.
“Apart from that, there were no injuries on the face, head, abdomen, upper limbs, and lower limbs that would match injuries sustained after being hit or while defending one's self that could be found on the deceased,” he told the coroner's court on Friday (March 22).
Based on the postmortem and on the information he received from a reconstruction of the incident, Dr Ahmad Hafizam said that Muhammad Adib's injuries were most likely caused by a combination of him being hit by the door frame of the Fire and Rescue Department's Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) van, and then hitting a hard object at the road shoulder as he fell to the ground.
“I had been informed on the day of reconstruction of the event – by the investigating officer (IO) – that (one) witness, the driver of the EMRS van who was with the deceased in the van, said that he (Muhammad Adib) was not inside the van after the fire truck suddenly reversed; which had caused the rear of the truck to hit front of the van.
“Based on that information, I am of the opinion that the most probable event that took place was that if indeed the deceased was outside of the EMRS van, the deceased was standing and facing towards the rear of the van with his back towards the fire truck.
“The back left side of the deceased's body received the full impact of the hit from the edge of the door frame of the left front passenger seat of the EMRS van, and this led to his back ribs – ribs number one to seven – to break.
“The impact from the door frame also caused the deceased to lurch forward and fall with his limbs outstretched, facing forward and the right side of his ribs hit a hard surface that was raised – such as the road shoulder or any other hard structures that were around the area – with force, and this caused injuries on the deceased’s right thorax,” he said.
Dr Ahmad Hafizam said that the postmortem was done on Dec 18, 2018.
Judge Rofiah Mohamad sits as coroner for the inquest.
The inquest, held at the Shah Alam Sessions Court, was in its 16th day today (March 22) and will continue next Tuesday (March 26).
Muhammad Adib was critically injured in the early morning of Nov 27 after he and his team members from the Subang Jaya fire station responded to an emergency call at the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman Temple where a riot was taking place.
The fireman was taken to SJMC after he was found injured, before being transferred to the National Heart Institute (IJN) for further treatment, where he died on Dec 17, at 9.41pm.
