Probe into Adib’s injuries should have begun from day one, says forensic expert

Dr Shahrom Abd Wahid.

SHAH ALAM: The inquest into the death of Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim was today told that a clinical forensic pathologist should have been called in to examine and determine the cause of the injuries sustained by the fireman, before he died.

United Kingdom-based senior forensic and pathology expert Dr Shahrom Abd Wahid said the authorities should not have waited until Adib died and for the post-mortem to be carried out.

“It is not just about the post-mortem. From the beginning, an investigation should have been carried out after the incident occurred.

“A clinical forensic pathologist should have been called in.

“When we investigate, we should not be waiting for people to die and then only spring into action,” he said in the coroner’s court today.

A clinical forensic pathologist examines living patients, usually in cases where sexual assault or abuse is suspected.

Shahrom is the 29th witness in the inquest into Adib’s death, which entered its 39th day today.

If investigations had begun much earlier, Shahrom said the forensics team would have gone to the scene to identify and consider the objects that could have potentially caused Adib’s injuries.

Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim

“Usually, we will tell the investigating officer what to look for. In Adib’s case, it would have been the car or other objects in the vicinity.

“If we don’t tell him (the IO), he will not know what to find,” he said.

To a question by senior federal counsel Suzana Atan as to whether calling a clinical forensic pathologist was a standard operating procedure (SOP) or out of one’s own initiative, Shahrom said the SOP required them to carry out investigations comprehensively.

What this meant, Shahrom said, was that investigations might not necessarily be perfect, but it had to be complete.

Suzana is representing the housing and local government ministry and the Fire and Rescue Department, taking over the role once held by Syazlin Mansor. Syazlin currently appears for Adib’s family.

Also assisting the coroner’s court is deputy public prosecutor Faten Hadni Khairuddin.

The inquest before coroner Rofiah Mohamad continues tomorrow at 9am, where she is expected to give her ruling on whether an independent pathologist needs to be called to the stand.

Adib, a member of the Subang Jaya Fire and Rescue Department’s EMRS unit, was seriously injured during a riot at the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in USJ 25 on Nov 27 last year.

He died on Dec 17 at the National Heart Institute. - FMT