AFTER contradictory evidence by forensic experts as to the cause of injuries sustained by firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim during a temple riot, the Coroner’s Court today ruled that the 24-year-old’s death was a “criminal act”.

The ruling, although widely accepted – including by Adib’s family – raises more questions given that the riot on November 27, 2018, took place 10 months ago. Who will the police investigate now? Who is going to be charged with the murder?

Throughout the inquest which began in February and ended in July, there were only two possibilities considered as to the cause of Adib’s injuries: either he was pulled out of his emergency medical rescue services (EMRS) vehicle and beaten up by a mob, or he was hit by another fire department vehicle that was reversing.

Remember, too, the controversy involving Adib’s unit at Subang Jaya Fire and Rescue Station, and why his colleagues only realised they had left him behind at the scene after they returned to base. The inquest has not satisfactorily answered this.

The Malaysian Insight reviews highlights of testimonies submitted during the inquest:

Subang Jaya Medical Centre (SJMC) cardiothoracic surgeon Dr S. Anand:

Anand treated Adib at SJMC after the riot until he was transferred to the National Heart Institute (IJN).

He said CT scans on the upper parts of Adib’s body showed it was normal except for his chest area, which displayed blunt trauma injuries.

Given the injuries were largely confined to the chest area, Anand said this made Adib “less likely” a victim of assault.

Adib had a lung contusion and the space between his chest wall and lung was filled with air, besides multiple rib fractures.

Adib’s condition stabilised but he needed a special oxygenation machine that SJMC did not possess, so he was transferred to IJN.

Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) forensic expert Dr Ahmad Hafizam Hasmi:

Hafizam carried out the post-mortem on Adib’s body, which was 21 days after he sustained injuries during the riot.

Hafizam told the inquest that the lack of grip marks on Adib’s body indicated he could not have been pulled from his vehicle.

“It is difficult to pull a person from a moving vehicle and (especially if) he was a physically fit person. There were no grip marks when we did the post-mortem”.

Adib’s injuries could likely have been from “falling on a curb” or that “he could have hit the door (of his vehicle) and fell on a hard, wide, blunt, and rough surface,” Hafizam said.

He defended his conclusion by noting that Adib did not have any self-defence marks on his body, showing he did not protect himself if he was indeed attacked.

Hafizam also based his position on the lack witnesses testifying they saw Adib pulled out of the vehicle, and that if he had been, there should have been reports of other people injured because the vehicle was in motion.

“The victim exited the EMRS (vehicle) himself and this is based on the (accounts of the) witnesses and further evidence (experiments). There is no evidence to show that he was pulled out.”

HKL Forensic Medicine Department chief Dr Mohd Shah Mahmood:

Shah carried out a clinical examination on Adib during the fourth day of the fireman’s hospitalisation.

He described Adib’s injuries as “unique”, in that his left ribs were broken “in a straight vertical line”.

He led a forensics team in reconstructing the collision of the vehicle Adib was in at the riot scene, and found a “thin and vertical corner” on the left front door of Adib’s EMRS vehicle.

Shah said he felt this was “consistent with the unique injury on his left ribs, which were broken in a straight vertical line”.

He said his findings from the reconstruction matched the results of the post-mortem after Adib’s death, which led him to dismiss the possibility of assault.

UK-based forensic expert Dr Shahrom Abd Wahid:

The retired University Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital pathologist was the only medical expert during the inquest to support the possibility that Adib was forcibly pulled out of his EMRS vehicle and beaten.

He highlighted weaknesses in the early medical investigations, saying a clinical pathologist should have been called in as soon as the firefighter was brought to hospital.

He suggested the wrong methodology had been used in determining the cause of Adib’s death, as the experiments conducted by Hafizam had failed to conclusively determine the object that caused the injuries.

He also pointed out contradictions in the post-mortem report by HKL experts on Adib’s death.

Sharom’s calculations on the impact of blows sustained by Adib, whether by being hit with the vehicle or falling from it, were supported by physics expert Dr Amir Radzi Ab Ghani from Universiti Teknologi Mara’s (UiTM) Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

Shahrom’s conclusion was that the van door could not have exerted enough force to break Adib’s ribs.

Ahmad Shahril Othman, a firefighter from Subang Jaya Fire and Rescue station, Adib’s colleague and driver of the EMRS vehicle:

Shahril told the inquest he was not aware of what happened to Adib, who was sitting in the front passenger seat next to him, as he was in a state of shock when they came under attack from the rioters.

He said the last time he saw Adib was before the fire truck in front of them reversed into their vehicle.

“He (Adib) was in the vehicle when the riots started and there were about 50 people that charged towards us.

“I didn’t notice him anymore as I was more focused on what was happening on my side of the vehicle, as the rioters were trying to open my door.

“It all happened in a span of 50 seconds,” Shahril said.

He said he had focused his attention on the rioters on his side of the van “and when I turned my van towards the side of the truck I noticed that Adib was gone”.

Shahril said he then drove to USJ police station where a roll call was taken. It was then that the team noticed Adib was missing.

In November, after the riots, Fire and Rescue Department director-general Mohamad Hamdan Wahid dismissed claims that Adib had been hit by a fire truck, while he was outside his vehicle during the riots.

Hamdan also said Adib’s team mates only realised he was missing after they reached Subang Jaya fire station.

He said the team had been ordered by their operations commander to withdraw immediately when rioters began attacking their vehicles. – September 27, 2019.