Teoh was still breathing after falling from 14th floor - MACC's first living dead

March 01, 2011 19:16 PM

Teoh Was Still Breathing After The Fall, Commission Told

KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 (Bernama) -- The Commission of Inquiry into the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock was told Tuesday that the examination on the deceased showed no signs of a struggle.

A medical consultant from the Forensic Department, Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR), Dr Khairul Azman Ibrahim, said the examination on Teoh's body showed that Teoh was still breathing for a few minutes after the fall from the window on the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam.

The 30-year-old Teoh, who was the political aide of selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on the fifth floor corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam on July 16, 2009, after being questioned overnight at the Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission office on the 14th floor.

Questioned by Penang Hospital's forensic pathologist, Datuk Dr Bhupinder Singh, whether someone with intention to commit suicide would try to stop himself from falling, Dr Khairul said: "Based on the test that was carried out and the condition of the body, the victim was believed in a conscious state".

Dr Khairul, 53, said he noticed there were traces of internal injuries on Teoh's neck and blood veins when conducting a post-mortem on the body.

He confirmed that the injury on Teoh's neck was due to a fall and based on the fracture to the leg, Teoh might have landed on his feet.

"There were fractures at the ankle, knee, thigh," he added.

Questioned by conducting officer, senior federal counsel Amerjeet Singh, how Teoh could have sustained such injuries, Dr Khairul said it could have been caused by Teoh landing on his feet when he fell.

He said Teoh also injured his head and chin due to the impact of the fall.

Earlier, an assistant superintendent at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Zurinawati Zulkifli, 28, said she did not know how a sling bag belonging to Teoh could be in the MACC's investigating officer, Mohd Anuar Ismail's office nor who took the bag out of the room.

"When I arrived for work at 8.30am on July 16, 2009, I noticed the bag on the floor by the side of a sofa," she said.

Questioned by commission chairman, Federal Court judge Tan Sri James Foong Cheng Yuen, whether it was normal for an officer to lock his room before going out and why it was locked, Zurinawati said: "It is a normal practice because of the documents in the room, but it depends on the officers whether to lock or not".

Besides Dr Bhupinder Singh, the other commission members are former Federal Court judge Datuk Abdul Kadir Sulaiman, former Appeal Court judge Datuk T. Selventhiranathan and the Dean of Cyberjaya Medical Science College University, Professor Dr Mohamed Hatta Shaharom.

The proceeding continues in the afternoon.

-- BERNAMA