Inquest into Nigerian PhD student's death to be held in January

The Kuala Lumpur Coroner’s Court will hold an inquest in January to determine the cause of a Nigerian doctorate student's death in the Immigration Department's custody several months ago.

The dates for the inquest proceeding into Thomas Orhions Ewansiha’s death have been fixed on Jan 2, 3, 7, 8, ,9 said lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan, who represents the deceased's wife, Blessing Uhunoma Eriamiator.

“An inquest hearing has been registered at the Kuala Lumpur Coroner’s Court. Today, the first case management was held and the court has ordered for another case management on Dec 20.

“The inquest proceeding will be heard before the Sessions Court judge Mahyon Talib,” Rajesh added.

This came after it was reported that Ewansiha's family wanted an inquest to be conducted into his death.

On the number of witnesses to be called, Rajesh said it would depend on the deputy public prosecutor.

“The list is not finalised yet. We will know for sure on Dec 20, during the case management," the lawyer said.

Ewansiha, 34, died at the Bukit Jalil Immigration Detention Depot on July 9.

Prior to that, he was detained on July 4 during an immigration operation in Desa Aman Puri apartment.

The operation was launched following complaints of “misbehaviour” of foreigners in the area. 

The Lim Kok Wing Institute of Creative Technology student was under a 14-day remand to verify his documents and seek confirmation from the college on his attendance record and details of his course, according to the Immigration director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud.

Khairul had said that there was no breach of the standard operating procedure in the case. 

He said that at approximately 12.05am on July 9, the depot's officer-in-charge was informed by other inmates that the student had suffered fits while asleep. Medical officers from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital (HUKM) subsequently pronounced his death. - Mkini