BOMBSHELL – FIREMAN ADIB’S PARTNER FINALLY ADMITS HE ‘ASSUMED’ ADIB WAS DRAGGED OUT & BEATEN BY RIOTERS – EVEN THOUGH HE DIDN’T KNOW HOW OR WHEN ADIB WENT ‘MISSING’ FROM EMRS VAN DESPITE BEING SEATED TOGETHER INSIDE

The supervisor of Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim lodged his police report on the injuries sustained by the late firefighter during the Seafield Seri Mahariamman temple chaos last November based on the assumption that he was attacked by rioters.

Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) van driver Ahmad Shahril Othman told the inquest into Adib’s death that he assumed the rioters wanted to hurt him, and would have therefore done the same to his partner.

“I assume (beranggapan) that if they (the rioters) attempted to force open my door, with intention to beat me up, it is not impossible that the same could have happened to Adib.

“We saw the damage to our vehicle… so it is impossible that they (the rioters) would not injure us.

“If they got their hands on a firefighter, for sure they would have done the same,” said Shahril, the third witness in the inquest.

He said this in response to inquest conducting officer Hamdan Hamzah, who queried him on the contents of a police report lodged by their team’s supervising officer after Adib was found on site with severe injuries and rushed to hospital.

Shahril said he went with his supervisor to lodge the report at the Subang Jaya police station and had briefed the latter on its contents.

In the report read out by Hamdan, it was stated that Adib “sustained severe injuries after he was dragged and beaten up by rioters.”

Adib’s partner unaware how he went missing from EMRS van

Firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim’s partner today told an inquest he was unaware of how the former had gone missing from their Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) van on the night the riot broke out at the Sri Mahamariamman Temple in Subang Jaya last November.

EMRS van driver Ahmad Shahril Othman, the third witness in the inquest to determine Adib’s cause of death, said he was focused on a mob outside the vehicle that included at least three individuals who knocked on his window and attempted to force open his unlocked door.

“At that point, I did not notice him (Adib) anymore. I was focused (to my right) because my window was knocked and they tried to open my door.

“With one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on my door, I was facing my window with my back against Adib,” Shahril told the Coroner’s Court when questioned by inquest coordinating officer Hamdan Hamzah.

He described the three individuals closest to his window as wearing helmets, who he was only able to identify as “dark silhouettes.”

Shahril repeatedly insisted that he was not aware of what had happened to Adib behind his back, and that he only heard loud banging sounds on the EMRS van amid other noises outside.

The EMRS van, which trailed a fire truck, arrived on site at 1.12am to put out a burning car.

Shahril told the inquest that the fire truck had reversed to escape a mob of about 50 people, knocked into his van, and forced him to turn the vehicle around.

The entire incident from the moment the fire truck reversed had occurred in less than one minute, he said.

“When my van turned towards the fire truck on its left, I saw arwah (Adib) was no longer inside, and the (EMRS van) door was closed,” he said.

– M’kini