Widow: Cops attempted to cover-up cause of Dharmendran's death

The widow of the death in custody victim N Dharmendran, Marry Mariay Susay, 30, has accused the police of attempting to cover up the true cause of her husband’s death.

She testified that the deception came several ways, in that one such instance was when she went to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital’s autopsy room where her husband’s remains were being examined.

“There were a few ways. At first, they (two police personnel outside the room) said he died of a heart attack.

“When I went to the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC), I heard a few things including about entries in a log book.

“It was found in the EAIC investigation that the entry was false,” she told the High Court in Kuala Lumpur through a translator today.

She also testified that a news report quoting the police saying that Dhamendran had died of breathing difficulties was also untrue, as the post-mortem report had not been released at the time.

Marry (photo) was testifying in her lawsuit against 11 defendants for, among others, damages for assault and battery, negligence and breach of duty, false imprisonment, conspiracy among the defendants, vindicatory and aggravated damages.

Dharmendran was detained on May 11, 2013 and died 10 days later on May 21 at the Kuala Lumpur police contingent headquarters.

Ears were stapled

An EAIC report on April 28 said Dharmendran’s death was due to the use of physical force by the police, and the staples found on his ears were stapled there while he was still alive. He had a total of 52 injuries on his body. 

The EAIC also found that log entries written by two lock-up sentries had been falsified and demanded action against them.

Four police personnel - Inspector S Hare Krishnan, 42, Sergeant Jaffri Jaafar, 46, Corporal Mohd Nahar Abd Rahman, 47, and Corporal Mohd Haswadi Zamri Shaari, 34 - had been charged for allegedly murdering Dhamendran, but they were acquitted by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on June 29.

The four are also the first four defendants named in Marry’s suit. The others are the Malaysian government, the then inspector general of police Khalid Abu Bakar, the then Kuala Lumpur police chief Mohmad Salleh, and the then Kuala Lumpur CID chief Ku Chin Wah.

Also named as respondents in the suit are senior police officers Yahya Abd Rahman, Glenn Anthony Sinappah, and Khairi Ahrasa.

Meanwhile, Marry testified that Dhamendran was the sole breadwinner for her and her son, now six-years-old. She said she had been a housewife until she took on a job as a cashier in December last year.

She said Dharmendran earned a basic salary of RM1,161 a month as a sample collector for the Indah Water Consortium. Along with overtime pay, he takes home between RM1,600 to RM1,700 per month.

Of these, RM1,000 would go to household expenses, and RM200 would go to Dhamendran’s mother.

The hearing presided by Justice Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim would continue on the morning of Dec 11.

Marry is represented by lawyers N Surendran, Latheefa Koya, Shahid Ali, and Toh Seng Wee.

The respondents are represented by senior federal counsels Normastura Ayub and Sandra Ko.- Mkini