'Teoh's injuries inconsistent with suicide'

Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand has stood by her assertion that DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock did not commit suicide.
 
"From the pathology findings, the victim did not commit suicide," she said when testifying this morning at the inquest into Teoh's death.
 
Pornthip’s testimony last year had created headlines when she claimed that Teoh's death was 80 percent due to homicide and 20 percent suicide.
 
Teoh, the aide to Selangor exco Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on the fifth floor service walkway of Plaza Masalam on July 16 last year.

He had been questioned throughout the night as a witness by the Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, on the alleged abuse of state funds.

Answering a question about her previous hypothesis, Pornthip was unwilling to give a percentage on the likelihood of suicide.
 
“I cannot give a percentage as there were lots of limitations (during the second autopsy but), I am sure it is not suicide,” she said.
 
She testified that while the body was "fairly well-preserved" for her to come to the conclusion, there were limitations such as dissections and the chemicals used in the first autopsy which changed the condition of the body.
 
Pornthip, who has more than 25 years’ experience in forensic crime scene investigation, said the injuries found on Teoh (right) were inconsistent with other cases of suicide from jumping that she had investigated.
 
She said the lack of fractures on Teoh's wrists, as well as a cerebral edema (swelling of the brain) indicate that he was unconscious when he landed, confirming that he did not commit suicide.
 
If he was conscious, she said, he would have broken his fall with his hands and sustained injuries to his wrists.
 
She said only one ankle was fractured, unlike most suicide by jumping cases, adding that the fracture had a wound around it, suggesting that it was due to the impact of the fall.

Pornthip also testified the skull injury was not a ring fracture, often found in cases of suicide by jumping.

Instead the fracture was caused by either a fall or beating using blunt objects.

'Neck hold'

The second autopsy, she said, revealed that the bruise on Teoh's neck was likely caused by blunt force and not by the fall, as suggested by Dr Prashant Naresh Samberkar of the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre.

"My staff and I have examined 34 to 35 cases of falls from height and none showed a serious wound like the one on (Teoh's) neck," she said.

But the injury was at a "protected area of the neck" eliminating the possibility that it was hit by an object before or during the fall.

Rather, she said, it indicates a sort of neck hold, but not from manual strangulation, as the force administered was greater than that of a human grip.

She said the bruise was unlike that caused by injury to the spine or chin. The chin area does not have blood vessels which could cause such excessive bleeding and a wound that large.

Pornthip also refuted the findings of pathologist Dr Peter Vaneziz (right) who had said there was no compression to the neck which occurred for a significant period of time, as the injury indicates that he Teoh's neck was pressed down to an object.

The swelling of the brain also indicates that he was deprived of oxygen for "at least five minutes", either through blockage of a vein, artery or trachea, consistent with the hypothesis of a neck hold.

Pornthip testified that Teoh did not land on its feet as Vaneziz suggested, and that the evidence indicates there was sliding.

However, she found that the anal tear previously believed to suggest possible penetration was in fact caused by injuries to the buttock region due to the fall.

The inquest will continue on Sept 1.