Adib inquest postponed to revisit damaged EMRS van

INQUEST | Today’s proceedings for the inquest into firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim’s death has been put off until tomorrow.

This is to allow forensic experts and lawyers to inspect the Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) van that the firefighter was in during the Seafield Temple riots on Nov 27 last year.

Coroner Rofiah Mohamad allowed the application by the inquest conducting officer Hamdan Hamzah, during the 25th day of proceedings at the Shah Alam Coroner’s Court this morning.

Hamdan said that all parties in the matter - including lawyers for the deceased’s family and the Housing and Local Government Ministry - would head to the Subang Jaya fire department today where the EMRS van is kept.

Hamdan: There is the issue of the EMRS (van) which is now at the Subang Jaya fire department.

Before all parties can proceed with the inquest, we apply to look again at the EMRS ambulance involved in the incident.

Rofiah: The damaged EMRS?

Hamdan: Its tyres and radiator (is facing issues among others). It (inspection of the EMRS van) would take the whole day.

Rofiah: It would be fair (to all parties in the inquest) in order to look for themselves (at the EMRS van).

The proceedings today are vacated to 9.30am tomorrow.

A door that came off from the EMRS van and subsequently retrieved from the scene of the riot.

When met after proceedings, inquest conducting officer Faten Hadni Khairuddin confirmed the outcome of today’s proceedings.

She said that two previous forensic expert witnesses from Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL), and current 29th witness - retired Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) forensic pathology professor Dr Shahrom Abd Wahid - would attend the EMRS van inspection today.

“This is done in order to ensure justice for all parties involved,” she told reporters today.

The inquest team had inspected the fire department vehicles caught in the riots, on Feb 12, though Rofiah will not be partaking in today's visit.

Those involved in the earlier visit were Rofiah, Hamdan, and the legal teams for all interested parties.

They were also joined by three witnesses who had testified at the coroner's court prior to the visit, namely Subang Jaya traffic police chief Mohamad Nasir Drahman, fire truck driver Md Eliza Mohd Noor, and the driver of the EMRS van that Adib was assigned to, Ahmad Shahril Othman.

Coroner Rofiah Mohamad inspects a damaged Fire Rescue Tender during a site visit on Feb 12.

Since the visit, HKL forensic department head Dr Mohd Shah Mahmood and its medical forensic specialist Dr Ahmad Hafizam Hasmi testified that Adib’s injuries, among others, do not support the allegation that the 24-year-old firefighter was pulled out of the EMRS van on the night of the riots.

The two forensic experts, who had participated in the autopsy of Adib, said the nature and pattern of the deceased’s rib fractures and external injuries, among others, instead support the notion that the firefighter was standing outside the EMRS van when he was hit by the vehicle’s front right passenger door as it reversed to avoid an angry mob at the scene of the Subang riots.

When asked if the EMRS inspection today was necessitated by Shahrom’s ongoing testimony, Faten answered in the affirmative.

In the two most recent inquest proceedings, Shahrom, who was subpoenaed by the ministry’s lawyer Syazlin Mansor to appear at the inquest, testified that Adib could not have sustained his injuries merely by being hit by the EMRS van’s door.

Instead, he said the firefighter sustained his injuries when he was pulled out of the van by one person, while at least another person simultaneously kicked the door, causing the fractures on Adib’s left rear ribs and front right ribs, among others.

The retired forensic pathology professor, who had once helmed UKM Hospital's forensic unit, said he arrived at his conclusion through his own reconstruction of events of the night of the riots by looking at the CT scans of Adib's injuries, as well as a fire department video re-enactment of the possible scenarios that could have led to the firefighter's injuries during the riots.

The witness was initially slated to continue his testimony today and would now testify tomorrow instead, in light of the postponement. - Mkini