HKL doctor to testify again in Adib inquest

Dr Ahmad Hafizam Hasmi from Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

SHAH ALAM: The High Court here today allowed the bid by conducting officers in the inquest into Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim’s death to reverse the Coroner’s Court decision on recalling a forensic expert to testify.

Judge Ab Karim Ab Rahman said Dr Ahmad Hafizam Hasmi from Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) is needed to explain certain issues raised by another expert, Dr Shahrom Abd Wahib.

“To me, his (Hafizam’s) testimony is not to rebut Shahrom, but to explain the theories presented by the forensic expert,” he said in allowing the application.

He added that the coroner cannot leave out any evidence in making her decision.

Lawyer Kamaruzaman A Wahab, representing Adib’s family, said they would file an appeal over the revision.

Last week, the Coroner’s Court dismissed the application by the conducting officers to recall Hafizam to testify.

Hafizam and his supervisor, Dr Mohd Shah Mahmood, previously told the inquest they believed Adib might have stepped out from the medical van during the clashes at the Sri Maha Mariamman temple in Seafield, and that his injuries were not due to assault.

Both Hafizam and Shah performed the post-mortem on Adib.

However Shahrom, who was formerly attached to Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, said Adib might have been pulled out from the van and hit on the right side of the chest by the passenger door.

Earlier today, deputy public prosecutor Hamdan Hamzah told the High Court that there are some issues which Hafizam should explain again.

He cited the “triangle-like” injury on Adib’s chest and Shahrom’s theory on how the crowd around the van during the riot had pushed the fireman on his back at the door of the van.

But Kamaruzaman and Syazlin Mansor, representing the housing and local government ministry, insisted that there is no need to recall Hafizam, adding that the doctor had already been extensively questioned.

Adib was part of a response team sent from the Subang Jaya fire and rescue station on Nov 27 last year to the temple area in response to a call that cars had been set on fire. He died at the National Heart Institute on Dec 17.

The inquest was called by the government amid conflicting claims on the cause of Adib’s death.

The inquest is up for mention again on May 10. - FMT