Friday, May 17, 2019

Seafield temple inquest - the subtext


Malaysiakini - '1,001 possibilities' how Adib could have fallen and hit curb, inquest told (extracts)



Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim 

A medical forensic expert today said there were "too many ways" in which the late firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim could have fallen onto a curb near the Seafield Seri Mahariamman temple during the night of the riot there last Nov 27.

Given all the possibilities, Kuala Lumpur Hospital forensic expert Dr Ahmad Hafizam Hasmi said it would be a waste of time to perform reconstructions of how Adib could have been injured after the fall as the findings could easily be challenged.



"I don't want to conduct an experiment that could be challenged [...] I know I cannot prove anything from conducting an experiment on the curb.

"There are a thousand and one possibilities how he (Adib) could have fallen," said Ahmad Hafizam to questions from lawyer Syazlin Mansor representing the Fire Services Department as well as the Housing and Local Government Ministry.

"I would only agree if the experiment (reconstruction) was conducted at specific angles," said Ahmad Hafizam in response to Syazlin's questions on why he did not perform an exact reconstruction of how Adib could have fallen onto the curb. [...]

At the end of today's hearing, Ahmad Hafizam agreed with Syazlin's suggestion that he could not confirm the exact object which had caused the injuries to Adib's chest and subsequently which led to his death
.


In this sad tragedy, where a fireman died in responding to an emergency at an Indian temple then ablaze, we have in the inquest quite a prolonged tussle between two sides.

The government forensic expert suggested Adib's fatal injuries were more likely to have been caused by being hit by an Emergency Response Rescue Service (EMRS) as the vehicle was reversing.

He also suggested the road shoulder could probably be the most likely cause of injuries to Adib’s right chest and right arm based on the five criteria.

But subsequently under questioning by lawyer Syazlin, he mentioned the road shoulder as one of the five objects that could have caused the injuries.

Lawyer Syazlin, representing the Fire Services Department as well as the Housing and Local Government Ministry, suggested another possibility, of Adib being dragged out of the fire vehicle and whence the victim was hit by an object which had caused the injuries to Adib's chest and which subsequently led to his death.


But was that object a weapon or the reversing EMRS van door or the nearby road curb which Adib might have fallen upon? Dr Ahmad Hafizam admitted he couldn't confirm with certainty the object that hit the victim’s chest causing death.
But the doctor was insistent that the left door of the EMRS van was not the object that caused the injuries.

The tussle seems to be more about apportioning blame than about identifying the  cause of the injuries.

It's about whether Adib was dragged out by persons unknown, perhaps bashed or/and perhaps subjected to an unfortunate chain of events, or whether Adib was hit unwittingly by a frantic reversing EMRS as the mob at the Seafield Seri Mahariamman temple surged towards the first responding vehicles.


There was also another forensic expert with a differing view as to the causes leading to Adib's severe fatal injuries. He was more in line with lawyer Syazlin Mansor's views. 

There is no denying the temple side doesn't want to be blamed for temple rioters killing Adib, whilst Adib's family and the Fire Service Department want some accountability because the fire service is adamant the reversing EMRS did NOT hit Adib.

Kaytee has a different analysis, namely, the tragedy would not have occurred, and Adib would still be alive today, if there was NO fire blazing at the temple and rioters charging towards the fire vehicles.

Sh*t happened when law and order then broke down, in total defiance to a court order.

But I know both sides won't like my simplistic analysis.






4 comments:

  1. The legal function of the Inquest is to establish the cause of death, where it is not a simple conclusion. I'm afraid "not simple" is an understatement in this case.

    The legal issues surrounding the temple control, the wrong doing of the rioters and the outsiders who came to threaten the temple worshippers (deliberately ignored in the blogger's post) has no direct bearing on the outcome of the inquest.

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  2. they should put adip's colleagues on lie detector in the presence of hadi, case solved, nobody would dare lie

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  3. Simplistic analysis are for those who analyse/make something complicated seem simple by ignoring important parts of it.

    I am of the opinion that the inquiry as to the cause of the death of the fireman would likely end up as another open verdict as in the case of the RCI into TBH case. Isn't there similarities in all other politically linked cases like Altantuya, Najadi, Kelvin Morias, religious preachers etc? Aren't anyone surprised that with so many witnesses at the scene of the crime, suspects apprehended and interrogated and yet no one is charged for murder or manslaughter? Why simple murder cases seemed to be easily solved and some even without witnesses at the scene of the crime? In some cases, besides the hitman paid to do the job, the actual planner who hired the hitman are even nabbed and charged with the real murder.

    This is because when a death of an innocent victim/victims are triggered by some who started/initiated the whole incidents due to a political objective, many evidences, testimonies etc would be clouded by those pulling the levers of power and control to whitewash or dissociate the link, make it into an emotional issue appealing to race, religion etc or hiding organization/departmental failures, diverting the issue by putting blame on the victims themselves, blemishing their morals or character and in the worst of cases even getting scapegoats to take the blame when evidences become too overwhelming to everyone.

    Justice and closure for all these innocent victims will never be done so long as those who initiated/planned such politically motivated incidents whether intentionally or when things went out of their control are not also hauled up and investigated in depth and exposed to the public and witnesses/evidences to the actual crimes are made to be hidden under wraps, bought off or threatened not to appear.

    Those who also failed in their duties during such incidents when initiated and triggered, lied or hide the truth during testimonies, instigate mobs to riot should also be nabbed and charged as accomplices to the crimes committed.

    What is the real truth for jeveryone wants revealed? The cause of collateral deaths and injuries due to a politically objective incident created and subsequent expected reaction from zombies of every kind, or the actual persons behind the planning to achieve some wicked political aims of himself/themselves and their parties.

    What do you think all those victims of such politically motivated incidents, murders, riots really want?

    The ones who pulled the trigger or the ones who planned and provide the guns to kill and causing him/her to be the intended or unintended victim/victims?

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  4. Wakakakakaka…

    "Kaytee has a different analysis, namely, the tragedy would not have occurred, and Adib would still be alive today, if there was NO fire blazing at the temple and rioters charging towards the fire vehicles."

    I have another theory.

    The unfortunate 'riot' at Seafield Seri Mahariamman temple happened as a premeditated events by whoever!

    There were many outcomes resulted. Adib's injuries was just one of the flows of event causality bcoz it's his job to be at the trouble spot to put out the fire.

    But the subsequent death of adib is purely a preventable event IFF he was been put under REAL medical expert cares!

    How many of u have ACTUALLY read about the poor/unprofessional/incompetent shown while adib was under intensive medical treatments?

    KT's argument is akin to by assigning one having diarrhoea to eating. Ignoring the cause of the food poisoning is the hygiene in food preparation!

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