Expert urges coroner to subpoena ‘others with info’

SHAH ALAM: Following allegations on social media that he lied, a forensic expert in the Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim inquest stood by his testimony that the injuries suffered by the fireman were likely not caused by assault.

Hospital Kuala Lumpur forensic expert Dr Ahmad Hafizam Hasmi said he had disclosed all information regarding Muhammad Adib’s injuries and urged anyone who might have additional information to step forward.

“I request that we obtain permission so that anyone with any other information regarding the death or injuries of the deceased that we have not collected during our examinations – I ask the coroner to call him or her to court,” he said yesterday while testifying before judge Rofiah Mohamad who is sitting as coroner for the inquest at the Shah Alam court.

He was responding to a Facebook post by a woman who identified herself only as Amiera, who had claimed she was one of the nurses who treated Muhammad Adib’s wounds.

In the posting, Amiera wrote: “If all staff involved can give a statement, I’m the first who will stand up and say that it is not by accident. We saw his face, we saw the bruises all over his body and so many things I can’t even tell here.

“We are not blind, and so (sic) you – a doctor should have a big heart, but for you, I just see a heartless human,” she had written in reference to Dr Ahmad Hafizam’s earlier testimony.

The woman has since retracted her Facebook post.

Dr Ahmad Hafizam said following the post, he had been criticised for his testimony.

“I have been insulted and called a liar. (However) whatever injuries we have found during the post-mortem or the clinical examination have been documented accordingly,” he said.

Dr Ahmad Hafizam, who is the 24th witness in the inquest, also said it was “impossible” that Muhammad Adib’s back injuries were caused by a handheld weapon.

This is because the swinging motion caused by a machete or a sword would have only fractured one rib, he said, whereas Muhammad Adib was found to have seven broken ribs on the left side of his back.

“The possibility of sustaining back injuries where seven ribs were fractured following an assault by the back of a parang in this case is impossible.

“If the weapon was aimed at the deceased, the only possibility of fracture is the bone that receives the impact,” he said.

The forensic expert said that Muhammad Adib sustained blunt trauma by an object that was thin, hard and upright.

Based on this, he added that it was likely that the 24-year-old was impacted by the edge of the door of the Emergency Medical Res­ponse Service (EMRS) van.

It was not likely that he was dragged out of the van as the door would have been in the way, Dr Ahmad Hafizam said, and he would have displayed abrasion marks on his neck.

The inquest was in its 17th day and continues on Wednesday (March 27).