Political aide Teoh Beng Hock was alive before he hit the the fifth floor landing of the Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said University Malaya Medical Center (UMMC) forensics expert Dr Prashant Naresh Samberkar.

The pathologist, who assisted senior medical consultant of the Forensic Department of Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (HTAR), Klang Dr Khairul Azman Ibrahim in the autopsy, said that his findings indicated that Teoh died from "multiple injuries due to a fall from height".

NONEPrashant (left) stated that the fact that Teoh was still alive before hitting the ground after falling from the 14th floor of the MACC building was based on five key reasons:

1. The injuries sustained by the deceased were consistent with a fall from height.

2. The amount of soft tissues injury, the amount of bruising and the amount of soft tissues haemorrhage (bleeding) that had occurred could only occur when the victim is alive at the time of impact.

3. The 700ml of blood and blood clots that was found at left chest cavity and the 100ml of blood found at right chest cavity (the amount of bleeding) can only occur when a person is alive at time of impact.

4. The injury to the skull especially the collection of blood clots on the vertex of Teoh's skull or around the top of his head, is consistent with person who was alive at the time of impact.

5. The sub-arachnoid haemorrhage on the right side of the brain surface could have also occurred when person is alive at the time of impact.

'No struggle prior to death'

Government appointed lawyer Tan Hock Chuan, who is assisting coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas, also asked whether there was any obvious injuries on Teoh's body that indicated struggle or wound inflicted from self defence.

However, Prashant in his reply said that there was "no such thing".

Yesterday, lawyers Gobind Singh Deo and Malik Imtiaz Sarwar had grilled Khairul on the possibility that Teoh could have been unconscious or semi-conscious prior to his death.

They had also questioned him intensely on whether Teoh could have been injured and suggested that he was "beaten" on his head and buttocks before falling nine storeys.

azlanPrashant, who has conducted more than 3,000 post-mortems in his career, clarified that the injury on the anal orifice showed a "continuous similar pattern".

Tan: What do you mean by one pattern?

Prashant: This is (pointing the post-mortem photograph of the buttock area) one injury but it had occurred because of the impact to the edge and the border of the gutter on level 5.

Tan: Could the injury on the anal region result from assault by an object, before the deceased hit the ground, as one theory suggested?

Prashant: It is unlikely in this present case because such trauma to the anal orifice with multiple tear will be very painful and with that pain for a person to walk to the window and ultimately fall from that window it is unlikely. Apart from that this amount and this kind of injury will only lead to a lot of bleeding which is not present when we went to the scene on July 16 and 17.

Tan: There was also a theory suggested that the deceased was assaulted on his head before he fell to the ground. Did you find any injuries to support this theory?

Prashant: The injury to the top of the head on the vertex had occurred because of the impact on the buttocks and vertical force of that impact, going along the spine also causing a fracture of the cervical vertebra (C4).

And this force does not terminate there. It has gone right up and separated the sutures of the skull.

'Teoh landed on his feet'

The pathologist was also asked to describe his impression of Teoh's fall.

"I'm able to say that both feet landed on the point of impact with an inclination more to the right side," said Prashant, adding that the upon impact Teoh's body bounced 3m away from point of the fall.

He added it was likely that Teoh would have bounced three times before the point where his body was located.

Asked whether Teoh could have taken the plunge head first, Prashant said:

"No... because from that height the force of velocity of the body falling head first, the impact to the head would have burst open the skull, plus, there would be splattering of the brain matter at the scene.

"Apart from this, the injuries to the body and organs would have been cushioned by the head impact first to the extent and the amount of injury to the rest of the body would be significantly less if the head impact occurred," he said.

He added that based on the rigor mortis (stiffening of muscles), Teoh would have died between the 7.15am to 11.15am on July 16.

Asked on the chalky white substance that was found on the sole of Teoh's right shoe, Prashant said that it was from the fifth floor landing, and that he checked it for himself.

"On my second day of visit (July 17) I checked by grinding my shoes on the ground and it did print white chalky substance on my shoes," he said.