Teoh Beng Hock Inquest : Homicide is a strong possibility

by Wong Teck Chi

Renowned Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand made several explosive allegations at the Teoh Beng Hock inquest this morning.

Among others, Pornthip suggested that the political aide could have been strangled before falling from the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam.

The colourful doctor noted that the marks on Teoh’s neck indicated the possibility of ‘manual strangulation’.

Furthermore, she pointed out that Teoh’s skull fracture was not typical of an injury from a fall.

In another startling revelation, Pornthip said the injury to the deceased’s anus could have been caused by penetration with an object before his fall.

‘80 percent homicide, 20 percent suicide’

In view of this, her conclusion is that there is an 80 percent probability that Teoh’s death was homicide and 20 percent chance of it being suicide.

The pathologist also disagreed with the opinion of forensic experts that Teoh ‘fell to his death consciously’, saying that the deceased could have been unconscious.

She also cited three reasons for making the conclusion. These were:

1) The autopsy reports indicated that he was alive when landing on the ground, but she found no protection injuries on the body.

2) She found wounds that looked like pre-fall injuries.

3) The chest injuries were result of primary impact.

Testifying in English, she said Teoh suffered several injuries before he suffered a fall and died.

She said the injuries on Teoh included a penetration in the anal region, an abrasion on the thigh and strangle bruises on the neck, and they were incompatible with a fall from a height.

Findings based on autopsy reports

The 54-year-old expert, who was asked by the Selangor government to testify on the cause of Teoh’s death, said her findings were based on the autopsy reports of Dr Khairul Azman and Dr Prashant Naresh Samberkar and post-mortem pictures made available to her.

The Thai expert came to the court at 8.50am wearing a tight top, long black skirt and boots, and sporting funky red and light brown streaks in her hair.

She had also prepared a slide presentation to assist the court to better understand her testimony.

“From the post-mortem picture, I found that there was a contusion on the right side of the neck, which we (pathologists) call a handle bruise, and this injury is compatible with injury caused by manual trangulation,” said Porntip who has conducted more than 10,000 post-mortems.

She said the injury was not indicated in the autopsy reports prepared by Khairul Azman and Prashant which were given to her for examination.

“I also found penetration injury in the anal region which can be caused by inserting an object in that particular part. I have never seen such injury in cases of a fall from a height,” she said, pointing to the post-mortem pictures displayed on the slide.

She said she also found an abrasion on an upper thigh of Teoh which could have been caused by beating.

“Another injury which I found was fracture of the skull, which may have been caused by a direct blunt force to the skull prior to the fall,” said Porntip, the 30^th witness at the inquest.

She said it was possible that Teoh was unconscious when he fell from the fifth floor, based on the absence of reaction injuries on the body, and added that the wounds looked like pre-fall injuries, and the severe chest injury was the result of the primary impact on the ground.

Was the body dragged?

When asked by counsel Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, for the Selangor government, as to the abrasion mark found under Teoh’s shoe, the forensic expert said: “It looks like the body had been dragged.

“In normal cases of a fall from a height, the shoes would not have left an abrasion mark like this,” she explained.

When asked by coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas whether the floor surface could have caused the dragging effect, Porntip replied: “Hard and rough surface”.

“However my forensic team did not find anything that may have caused this effect when they examined the 14th floor (MACC office) the last time,” she said.

Pornthip was testifying as an expert witness at the inquest which is being held to determine the cause of Teoh’s death.

She is the director and co-founder of the Thai Justice Ministry’s Central Institute of Forensic Science and is well-known for investigating complicated homicide cases.

Teoh, the 30-year-old political secretary to Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, had been summoned to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission office on the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam to be questioned over irregularities in the disbursement of state funds on July 15.

He was found dead the following day on the fifth floor service corridor of the building.