My Anthem

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Agatha Christie Thriller...

Frontpaged by most print media today -- and rightly so! -- and hot news beeak yesterday by most online news sites, was THAI FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST EXPERT DR PORNTIP'S TESTYIMONY AT THE TEOH BENG HOCK'S INQUEST THAT THE POLITICAL AIDE'S DEATH WAS PROBABLY A HOMICIDE (80 PERCENT) versus SUIXCIDE (20 PERCENT).

As a student going back not so longer though I once was described as a Jurassic scribe a decade ago, Desi is a fan of all murder mysteries, with Sherlock Holmes on B&W TV a firm favourite when growing up (my growing up, maybe Sir Arthur Conan DSoyle's too:).

So to out in cone=text, let me quote the first few paras from the Nut Graph relying on Bernama's:

80% chance of homicide in Teoh’s case
21 Oct 09 : 6.57PM

Teoh Beng Hock suffered several injuries before his fall
SHAH ALAM, 21 Oct 2009: Well-known Thai pathologist Dr Porntip Rojanasunan told the coroner's court here today that there was an 80% possibility of homicide and 20% chance of suicide in the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock.

Testifying in English, she said Teoh suffered several injuries before he suffered a fall and died after being questioned by the Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC).

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.

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.

Teoh, the political aide of Selangor state executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on 16 July on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam, after giving a statement in the case of alleged misuse of state allocations at the Selangor MACC office. The MACC office is located in Plaza Masalam.

Dr Porntip is now director-general of the Central Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice, Thailand, and has 27 years experience in the field of forensic science.

The Thai expert came to the court at 8.50am wearing a tight top, long black skirt and boots, with a funky red and light brown streaked hairstyle.

She also prepared a slide presentation for 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 strangulation," said Dr Porntip, who has conducted more than 10,000 post-mortems.

She said the injury was not indicated in the autopsy reports prepared by Dr Khairul Azman and Dr 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 Dr Porntip, who is the 30th 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. She added that the wounds looked like pre-fall injuries, and the severe chest injury was the result of the primary impact on the ground.

When asked by counsel for the Selangor government, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, as to the abrasion mark found under Teoh's shoe, the forensic expert said: "It looks like the body was 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, Dr 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. — Bernama

DESIDERATA:

I pray the late Teoh's family would agree to a second belated post-mortem to be conducted by Dr Porntip to shed a truer light on Teoh's injuries and help us understand more iif certain parties had been "misleading" the peoiple of Malaysia and betraying their professional training and themselves along the way TO SEEK JUSTICE for a young Malaysian life taken away frighfully before his time.

May God guide Teoh's family in their wisdom at a crosssroads of decision making. We will understand whatever the final path they choose. God bless all Truth-seekers, Amen

********************************

UPDATEd on Oct 23, 2009 @1.46PM, with a little from Dr Rafick of rights2write.wordpress.com, famed for his CSI-Malaysia series on TBH!:)


Death at MACC: My CSI XVI – Making sense of the 80% probability
22/10/2009 by drrafick

1. I guess everyone is still shocked with the imported Pathologist from Thailand, Dr Porntip Rojanasunan (Dr PR) revelation that there is 80% probability that TBH died from Homicide and not suicide. As usual, I prefer to analyze the exact facts reveal during inquest by visiting the AG Chamber website but I found that the “Nota Keterangan” has not been updated since 14 Aug 2009. The video recording was has a poor audio quality and I really need to read the “Explanatory Notes” to digest what was asked and what was said by all parties.

2.. As I do not have access to the crucial information, I have to rely on what was printed in the MSM as well as on the online media. To ensure consistency, I use The Star, NST, Malaysian Insider, Malaysiakini and Malaysian Mirror as my source of reference.

3. Some people are wondering on how Dr PR came to this 80% conclusion. I can safely say that is based on facts and her own personal experience. She would then make a guesstimate on the probability that TBH was murdered and did not commit suicide. We must appreciate that Dr PR came to the conclusion without examining the actual body but based on document review which includes photos, reports and the reports by her 2 assistance that came over several months back. I will try to explain in the simple manner on how Dr PR arrived at this conclusion.

4. Dr PR concluded that that TBH was unconscious and was already injured when he exited the window based on the type, severity and location of injuries. It appears that TBH has two types of injuries. One is due to the fall and the other is due to physical abuses. She concluded that in the absence of reactive injury when the late TBH impacted the floor, he must be unconscious.

5. Firstly, Dr PR concluded that he was unconscious because she expected that someone that is conscious during a fall would cushion his/her fall with an outstretched hand. This is a common sense which I believe many people who had slipped would have experience injuries on the hand or wrist as a result of the body reflex where the person hand would automatically be outstretched. At the height, speed and momentum, one would expect severe injuries to the hands but in this case there were none. For this reason she concluded TBH was unconscious. This is a fair, simple and acceptable argument.

6. The second issue is that whether TBH has injuries consistent with a fall from height. In this aspect, Dr PR agreed with Malaysian doctors that there is substantial evidence to show that there is a fall from height. Among others, these include the leg and hip fractures. Again this is a reasonable and fair conclusion.

7. The other significant comment that was highlighted by Dr PR that indicates that TBH was brutalized before being thrown out of the window is based on several signs on the body. The first being the skull fracture where she said is consistent with a blunt trauma. In this case, the skull injury does not match those that are due to the fall. Personally, I think both side of the camp can split hair and probably there is a strong probability that both parties are right in the sense that it is hard to differentiate the outcome of an injury due to a fall and due to a blunt trauma.

8. The most damaging evidence came from the findings of Dr PR on the signs of strangulation around the neck. A quick review of the pathologist report (Item No 5, pg 7 and Item under heading of injuries on page 3) showed that the Malaysian Pathologist acknowledge the presence of the wound but did not account for the reason of the wound. Certainly, Dr PR has a point as she demonstrated how the wound would have come about i.e. by manual strangulation.

9. Another interesting interpretation by Dr PR is with regards to the anal wound. Again the Malaysian Pathologist noted the presence of a penetrating wound injury measuring 2cmx6cm (Item 7 and 8, page No4) (item 7, 8 page No8 ) but did not take into account the cause of this injury when making their conclusions. Dr PR claim such a longitudinal wound must have been due to a penetrating injury rather that the fractures around the hip. This is also logical

10. From Dr PR findings, it is obvious that the Malaysian doctors actually saw what Dr PR saw but did not take into account the seriousness of the two injuries at the neck and anus. Is there a possibility that they had intentionally omitted their conclusions on these two injuries? If there is such a possibility, then why did they do it? A senior pathologist like Dr Khairul surely could not have concluded that the injury especially in the neck is due to a fall from height.

11. Based on Dr PR explanation, I believe the Malaysian doctors need to revisit their findings again and analyze it. They need to find a solid argument to counter the findings of Dr PR. I would say they are in a better position to do so because they examined the body and Dr PR did not. Finding a solid yet acceptable argument may not be easy in light of things that have happened.

12. Based on my own analysis, I concur with Dr PR that TBH was unconscious when he exited the window. I concurred with her findings that TBH sustained some injuries that is due to a fall from height. I have no access to the body and post mortem pictures but Dr PR has seen TBH post mortem pictures. In that aspect, I gave her the vote that TBH was brutalized before being thrown out of the window. My position remains the same unless the Malaysian Pathologist can provide some simple, reasonable and logical explanation with regards to the injury of the neck and anus. In the meantime, the general feeling is that the people believe that that there is an interdepartmental collaboration to COVER UP rather than to solve the crime.

Reference
TBH Post Mortem report

AG Chambers website- TBH Inquest proceeding

Previous CSI Series

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