Pornthip to testify in person at Teoh's inquest

Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand will testify in person at the Teoh Beng Hock inquest here on Aug 18. The coroner's court set the date after the Selangor government withdrew an application for Pornthip, who had claimed she had been pressured not to continue with her testimony, to be allowed to give her opinion via video conference.

Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, who represented the Teoh family, told coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas he received a letter yesterday from Pornthip expressing her readiness to testify following approval from the Justice Ministry of Thailand.

Azmil was to have decided today on the application to allow Pornthip to testify via video conference.

Pending Pornthip's testimony, Azmil decided to call several other witnesses on July 23, among them Kajang municipal councillor Tan Boon Wah.

Beng Hock, 30, a political aide of Selangor state executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on July 16 last year on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam after giving evidence at the Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office located on the 14th floor of the same building.

When testifying at the inquest earlier, Pornthip said she was of the opinion that Beng Hock had not committed suicide and that she was 80% sure that he was murdered.

Following the testimony, the court allowed a second post-mortem to be done on Teoh's body. This was carried out by the head of the Pathology Unit of Sungai Buloh Hospital, Dr Shahidan Md Nor, on Nov 22 last year.

Pornthip, who represented the Selangor government, and Prof Dr Peter Vanezis, who represented the MACC, were present during the second post-mortem.

Vanezis, in his testimony, said Teoh was conscious at the time of his fall and there was no proof that he was strangled.

- Bernama