Cops' explanations for detainee's stapled ears debunked

The Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) has debunked explanations by police personnel that the ears of N Dharmendran, who died while in custody, were stapled after his death.

Citing the public hearings which were conducted following Dharmendran’s death, EAIC chairperson Yaacob Md Sam said two police officers had given their theories how the staples were found in Dharmendran’s ears.

One had theorised that the staples were accidentally clipped while the deceased’s body was being wrapped before it was transported to the hospital, while another officer’s theory was that the ears were stapled when the body was at the mortuary.

“(The theories were) totally illogical, unreasonable explanations,” said Yaacob in a press conference after presenting the report on the outcome of the public hearings today.

Yaacob said evidence from the pathologist had confirmed that there was blood after the staples were removed.

“This shows that his ears were stapled when he was alive. It rules out that the staples were made after his death or at the mortuary.”

The pathologist had also confirmed that the ears were stapled not more than three days prior to the post-mortem.

Hypovolemic shock Yaacob added that if it was indeed true that Dharmendran's ears were stapled, there would have been plastic fragments on them.

“I'm not saying that the staples caused his death, but they were injuries suffered by him.

“The combination of those injuries, including the 52 bruises caused by blunt force object, had caused acute massive loss of blood into the tissues, causing hypovolemic shock.”

The EAIC chief also rued the lack of blood sampling for DNA analysis.

Two staplers from the D9 unit’s office at the Kuala Lumpur contingent police headquarters were seized but the lack of blood samples ruled out DNA comparison analysis to ascertain the identity of “Male 1”.

“If blood samples were taken from any of the personnel who had access to Dharmendan, they could have been compared with the blood on the staples. This would have given better evidence,” said Yaacob.

Dharmendran was detained on May 11, 2013, and died 10 days later while in police custody at the IPKKL.

Four police officers from the IPKKL were arrested and charged with causing the death.

On Dec 12, 2014, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur freed the four police personnel from the charge after concluding that there was no prima facie case against them.

The Court of Appeal, however, has ordered the four police officers to enter their defence in the case.

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