Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo informing the Teohs that the second autopsy will be carried out only on Nov 22 and not Nov 14 as they had hoped for earlier. – Picture by Jack Ooi
SHAH ALAM, Nov 9 — DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock’s body will be exhumed on Nov 21 for a second autopsy by Sungai Buloh Hospital pathology head Dr Shahidan Md Noor on Nov 22, the coroner’s court decided today.
Magistrate Azmil Munthapa Abas ordered the exhumation and second autopsy for Teoh, whose mysterious death on July 16 has brought to question interrogation methods by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
The autopsy will be held at the Sungai Buloh Hospital to be witnessed by Selangor state’s forensic expert, the renowned Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanansunand, and a foreign expert engaged by the MACC.
Dr Pornthip had earlier told the inquest she believed Teoh’s death was 80 per cent homicide and only 20 per cent suicide, contrary to testimonies from the two Malaysian pathologists who conducted the first autopsy.
The magistrate, who is sitting as coroner, also ordered former forensic doctor Dr K. Saravanan, from Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah in Klang, to assist Dr Shahidan with taking photographs during the second post-mortem.
Dr Saravanan had previously assisted his colleague Dr Khairul Aznam Ibrahim during the first autopsy and snapped a second set of photographs.
The lawyer for Teoh’s family, Gobind Singh Deo, had earlier pushed for the autopsy to be carried out on Nov 14.
“The longer the delay, the greater the risk of contamination,” he told Azmil.
Dr Pornthip had said that a second examination was viable within six months of burial.
Teoh was buried on July 20 at the Nirvana Memorial Garden in Semenyih.
The compromise was reached after lawyer Datuk Abdul Razak Musa told the court that the MACC's independent expert would only be available from Nov 26 to 30.
He asked the coroner for an order in English to compel their expert to come earlier.
Earlier, Abdul Razak had cross-examined a key witness who alleged torture at the hands of the MACC while in their custody last year.
Questioning T. Sivanesan’s credibility as a witness, he noted that the former auxiliary constable had not complained of brutality when he was hauled up to the magistrate's court twice and had also failed to name in his police report MACC officers who he claimed assaulted him in Plaza Masalam here last year.
Abdul Razak suggested the 22-year-old assistant manager, who was suspected of soliciting RM3,000 in bribes, may have “cooked up the whole story” as an after-thought to prevent his confession before MACC investigators from being used against him in trial.
The inquest will resume on Friday afternoon.
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