[bataovady]

Teoh alive during fall, says Dr Pornthip

By Boo Su-Lyn, The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 — Teoh Beng Hock was alive when he had fallen nearly ten floors, Thai forensic pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand told the royal panel investigating his death today.

But Dr Pornthip said she could not determine if the DAP political aide was conscious during his fatal plunge in 2009 outside the then Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam.



“He was alive on landing,” she told the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) today.

Dr Pornthip also said Teoh’s state of consciousness could not be determined based on the fractures in his feet.

“Landing on (the) feet means nothing... I cannot go to that conclusion (that he was conscious when he fell),” said the flamboyant forensic expert.




Teoh’s body was found on the fifth-floor corridor of Plaza Masalam on July 16, 2009 after he was questioned overnight by MACC officers at their then-Selangor office on the 14th floor.

Dr Pornthip, who sports red and gold highlights in her spiky tousled hair, said she observed Teoh’s second post-mortem on November 22, 2009.

The first autopsy was conducted by local government pathologists Dr Khairul Azman Ibrahim and Dr Prashant Naresh Samberkar a day after Teoh’s death.

Dr Pornthip, who has 30 years’ experience in forensic pathology, said the injury on Teoh’s aorta indicated that Teoh was alive when he hit the ground.

“At that time, (the) heart was pumping,” said Dr Pornthip, 55.

The forensic expert, who is widely known as Dr Death in Thailand, said if Teoh had sustained wrist fractures, it might have indicated that the political secretary was conscious during his fall.

Dr Pornthip said wrist fractures would be caused by putting one’s arms out to break the fall.

Dr Khairul and Dr Prashant testified last month that Teoh probably jumped to his death as he had landed on his feet, which they said was indicated by fractures on both feet.

Local government forensic pathologist Dr Shahidan Md Noor, who conducted the second autopsy with Dr Pornthip, has also testified last month that Teoh was probably conscious when he fell because the 30-year-old political secretary’s body was slightly bent before he hit the ground as he landed on his right side.

British forensic expert Dr Peter Vanezis testified recently that Teoh was alive and conscious when he fell, but said he could not determine if Teoh had jumped or was pushed out the window.

Dr Pornthip said today that wrist fractures were not necessarily found in suicide cases based on her experience.

“Even if a person wants to commit suicide, when he jumps, he’ll try to break the fall?” asked MACC lawyer Datuk Seri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

“No, not always like that,” said Dr Pornthip.

Dr Pornthip also said Teoh’s neck bruises could be caused by manual strangulation or by someone hitting Teoh with a blunt object.

“I disagree that this (neck) wound (was) caused by fall from height,” she said.

“He died from fall from height but there is a wound on the neck (that) I still have questions (about),” she added.

Teoh was political secretary to Ean Yong Hian Wah at the time of his death.

The anti-graft officers were investigating a claim that Ean Yong was abusing state funds.

Ean Yong is a Selangor state executive councillor and Seri Kembangan assemblyman from the DAP.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/m...s-dr-pornthip/