THE defence today went on the attack, trying their best to get the witness to concur that their clients Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong were not in physical contact with VX nerve agent.

Doan’s lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, in a cross examination after the break, went on to put the fifth witness Dr Nor Ashikin Othman on the defensive by trying to get her to concur with him that based on the Cholinestarese lab report obtained, Doan was never in physical contact with the nerve agent.

“Based on the lab report prima facie, it could also be interpreted that Doan has no physical contact with VX, Yes or No?” said Hisyam.

Dr Nor Ashikin initially said she does not agree with Hisyam but finally concurred when asked to be honest.

Hisyam was commanding and precise in his questions, which had left the chemical pathologist speechless.

He also put to her the same questions for Siti Aisyah, to which she agreed.

Hisyam’s colleague Salim Bashir also went into details about the report and suggested to Dr Nor Ashikin that the lab test would have errors if blood samples were kept at room temperature.

Naran went on asking more questions but was reprimanded by Judge Azmi Ariffin to stop ‘ridiculing’ Dr Nor Ashikin after she went quiet on his question.

Earlier, Dr Nor Ashikin was also questioned about her knowledge about VX by Siti Aisyah’s lawyer Gooi Soon Seng.

He asked her if the low level of Cholinestarese could have been caused by the taking of female hormone or liver disease which she said yes.

“Enzyme Cholinestarese can be found low in a patient that has chronic liver disease where the liver could not function well to produce the normal level of Cholinestarese. The enzyme will be low if the patient went through advance liver disease,” said Dr Nor Ashikin.

The court proceeding today also went on to hear testimony from Kuala Lumpur Hospital Forensics Department head Dr Mohd Shah Mahmood who was the forensic pathologist who conducted post-mortem on Kim Jong Nam’s body.

He identified the man as Kim Chol based on the information obtained from the North Korean passport on the deceased.

He told the court that the cause of death was acute VX exposure.

He went on to explain the medical term found in the post-mortem report.

The court session today ended with Judge Azmi Ariffin, who excluded the history and the summary of the medical report as it contained hearsay as argued by the defence counsel.

Outside the court, Siti Aisyah’s lawyer Gooi Soon Seng told reporters that they disputed the cause of death on the report.

“He (Shah) is saying death by VX poisoning because he based his conclusion on other experts such as the toxicologist and the chemist. What we are saying is that he shouldn’t be in that position to come to the conclusion. That conclusion should come from the judge. Not him,” he told reporters outside the court.

“Say that you have an accident. The cause of death is hemorrhage not accident. You’re a doctor you should go (with) facts. On the medical reason of death. That is our opinion,” he added.

The post mortem report, made available to reporters by the lawyers after the session today.

On last page of the report titled “Post-Mortem Examination Report : The Case of Kim Chol” dated February this year, it was discovered that traces of VX was discovered in Kim’s brown ‘Tumi’ bag and clothing.

The toxicology report also stated that Kim had consumed therapeutic drugs for diabetes, high blood pressure and gout.

The court session adjourned at 4.30pm and will continue tomorrow with Dr Shah taking the stand as the sixth witness in the murder case that put Malaysia at the centre of attention yet again. – October 3, 2017.