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‘Teoh’s death
80% homicide’
by Tan Yi Liang
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
HAH ALAM: A Thai pathology
S
expert told the Teoh Beng Hock
inquest yesterday that there was
an 80% probability that Teoh’s
death was a homicide.
“From everything I have read
and considered, there is only a
20% likelihood that his death was a
suicide. The remaining possibility is
that it was a homicide,” Dr Pornthip
Rojanasunand said.
Pornthip, the director-general of
the Thai Ministry of Justice’s Central
Institute of Forensic Science, also
said it was possible Teoh was uncon-
scious when he fell to his death.
Teoh, the political secretary to
Selangor executive councillor Ean
Yong Hian Wah, had been summoned
to the Selangor Malaysian Anti-
Corruption Commission (MACC)
offices on the 14th floor of Plaza
Masalam to be questioned over
irregularities in the disbursement of
state funds on July 15. He was found
dead on the fifth floor service cor-
ridor of the building the next day.
Pornthip said during questioning
by counsel Malik Imtiaz Sarwar,
for the Selangor government, that
Teoh could have been strangled
unconscious before his fall, or he
could have blacked out from the pain
caused by other injuries inflicted on
him before the fall.
“(Teoh’s unconsciousness) could
have possibly come from manual
strangulation and, secondly, from
the pain from the gluteal region from
Member of Audit Bureau of Circulations (Malaysia)
» Ministry: Two-year housemanship enough pg2
the buttocks,” Pornthip, the Selangor
government’s expert witness, said.
In an earlier Power Point presen-
tation, she had testified there were
several injuries found on Teoh
which were inconsistent with a fall
from a height. They were:
» the anal injuries, which were of a
“penetrating” nature;
» evidence of “handle bruises”
which indicate physical strangula-
tion on Teoh’s neck; and
» the fracture found on Teoh’s
skull was more consistent with
that of a blunt force impact than
transverse force from the fall.
Asked about the fracture,
Pornthip said her testimony differed
from that of the two pathologists who
performed the post-mortem on Teoh
as a fracture caused by a transfer of
force would appear differently on the
skull.
“From the opinion of the doctors,
they said that this fracture might
have been caused by transferred
force from the feet during landing
on the ground,” she said.
“But I found contusion over the
fracture line. So the fracture was
caused by blunt force injury directly
on the skull. And for the transfer
force of fall from height, there would
just be a ring fracture.”
In their post-mortem report,
pathologists Dr Khairul Ibrahim and
Dr Prashant Samberkar concluded
that the fracture on Teoh’s skull
came from the fall.
Asked by Malik about the
scratches found on Teoh’s right shoe,
Pornthip said the marks “looked as if
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10 years, fine,
whipping for
false prophet
SHAH ALAM: The leader of a
deviationist Muslim sect who had
proclaimed himself a Rasul Melayu
(Malay prophet) was sentenced to
10 years in jail, fined RM16,500 and
ordered to be caned six times by
the Syariah High Court yesterday.
Abdul Kahar
Ahmad (pic) plead-
ed guilty to five
amended charges
under the Selangor
Syariah Criminal
Enactment 1995.
Syarie Judge Abu
Zaky Mohammad
also ordered Abdul
Kahar, 59, to be
sent for reha-
bilitation at the Pusat Pemurnian
Akidah Baitul Iman centre in Hulu
Yam Baru at the time of the last six
months of his prison term.
The charges carry a fine
of RM21,000 and maximum
jail sentence of 13 years and
Colourful: whipping. The court ordered
Pornthip, that the sentences be served
the state consecutively from the date of his
government’s arrest on Sept 16. Abdul Kahar,
expert witness, who is unemployed, committed all
is willing the offences in Kampung Kemen-
to conduct sah, Hulu Klang, between May and
a second June 2005.
post-mortem After sentencing, Abdul Kahar,
on Teoh. who was standing in the dock,
remained calm while his family
members sobbed and hugged.
Judge Abu Zaky, who took
almost two hours to read out the
55-page judgment, said the court
saw the seriousness of the case
besides placing importance on
public interest, reports Bernama.
He said the court needed to
weigh a sentence that can be
preventive and educate not just
KAMARIDUAN MOHD NOR/THESUN the accused but Muslims to not
Teoh had been dragged”. August. commit such offences. “At 59, the
“In normal cases of a fall from During questioning by Tan Hock accused should show his maturity,
a height, the shoes would not have Chuan, who is assisting coroner Az- but his actions are very difficult to
left an abrasion mark like this,” she mil Munthapha Abas, she admitted be accepted by the court, more so
said. that on closer inspection of the origi- he has been a Muslim from birth,
However, she said, such an nal photos it appeared if the scratch and as a head of family needed to
abrasion would have been caused by marks were formed when Teoh ensure his family prayed five times,
a “hard and rough” surface, which impacted the fifth floor walkway. but instead he poked fun at Islam’s
Pornthip’s team did not find on the teachings and proclaimed himself
14th floor during their inspection in » Turn to Page 4 as a Malay prophet,” he said.