A WITNESS claimed he saw a fireman being trapped between an Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) van and a car during the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman temple riots last November. 

Budd Mohsin said he saw a man sandwiched between the van and car as the van was reversing out of its place.

The 24-year-old Pakistani told the coroner’s court in Shah Alam that in the early hours on November 28 that he saw a fireman leave his fire rescue car.

The air-conditioner technician also said another man got down from the EMRS van at the same time. 

“There was another man who was standing between the two vehicles. All three were wearing fire rescue uniforms. When the mob approached, two of them jumped back into their vehicles, leaving one stranded.

He said the mob were throwing things at the vehicles and the car had reversed into the van as the victim was caught in between.

Budd does not understand English or Malay, and only spoke in Punjabi through a translator. 

It had caused confusion as he was not clear with his testimony, which led the court to stand down for five minutes so the witness could clarify his testimony with deputy public prosecutor Hamdan Hamzah.

When court resumed, Budd demonstrated what he had seen using toy cars. 

He said that when the incident happened, he was standing less than 10 metres away with his friend known as Hardeep, who took a video. 

Hamdan then showed him two videos of the incident, one which Hardeep took and one taken from CCTV footage. 

Budd was at the temple the night fireman Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim suffered the injuries that led to his death.

He did not identify the victim as Adib. Budd is the 20th witness in the inquest in Adib’s death. 

Hamdan later showed Budd a dark blue T-shirt bearing the fire department logo and asked if it was the shirt he had seen “Adib” wearing that day.

Budd said it “looked like it” but was unsure about the colour.

Hamdan and the interpreter had been referring to the victim as “Adib” although the witness did not confirm it. 

Coroner Rofiah Mohamad Mansor has called for the court to stand down and resume the questioning of witness tomorrow. 

An inquest into Adib’s death was called by the government this year amid conflicting claims on the cause of his death after he showed up at the Seafield riots.

Adib, 24, was part of the EMRS team sent from the Subang Jaya fire and rescue station to the temple on November 27. He is said to have been attacked there.

He succumbed to his injuries on December 17 at the National Heart Institute in Kuala Lumpur. – March 19, 2019