'They appeared to be punching, stomping something on the ground'

INQUEST

 | A witness claimed that he saw some 30 people forming a circle when the Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) vehicle that firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim was in left the scene of the riot outside the Seafield Hindu temple.

Nassaruddin Abdullah, 22, alleged that the group was hurling profanities while five of six people appeared to be throwing punches, kicking and stomping on something on the ground.

"Then I heard someone shout 'Police! Police!' and the crowd fled from the scene,” he added to questions from the inquest's conducting officer Hamdan Hamzah.

Nassaruddin (above), who spoke in Tamil, is the 17th witness to testify at the inquest to determine Adib's cause of death.

Initially, the authorities claimed the firefighter, who died on Dec 17, had succumbed to the injuries sustained when assaulted during the Nov 27 riot.

Meanwhile, Nassaruddin, who demonstrated the various punching and kicking motions, said the alleged assault lasted for about a minute.

However, the witness said he did not see if the mob was armed.

Nassaruddin, who was addressing the inquest through an interpreter, said he was also unsure if the mob had encircled a person.

"I am not sure whether there was someone (in the middle of the circle)... They were hurling profanities and shouting 'how dare you enter the temple?" he added.

The witness, who is unemployed, said he went to the temple that night on his mother's motorcycle with a friend, whom he named as Karthik.

After the mob dispersed, Nassaruddin said he had looked around for his friend and that is when he spotted several people carrying an individual wearing a firefighter's trousers.

[More to follow] - Mkini