A police detective told the Kuala Lumpur coroner's court today that missing detainee G Francis Udayappan ignored warnings to surrender and jumped into the Klang river after escaping from the Brickfields district police headquarters on April 16.

L/Kpl Zamrin Zaid told magistrate Nazran Mohd Sham, who is acting as coroner, that the moment he spotted Francis on the lower bank of the river, he had shouted for him to stop running and surrender.

"But the suspect ignored my shouts and ran towards the river before jumping in feet first. He slowly floated to the middle due to the strong currents," said the detective.

Zamrin said he had been alerted to the alleged escape when he heard shouts of 'OKT Lari!' from the front of the office block he was in.

He said he immediately ran downstairs and saw another officer, identified only as Khairul, pointing towards the end of the building at the fencing behind it.

"I ran to the fence and found Sjn Chan (Kim Chai) on the other side running in the direction of some bushes," he said, adding he crawled through a hole in the fence to find Chan 'looking for something' in the bushes about 100 metres away.

Zamrin said before he got to Chan, he saw an Indian male on the lower bank of the river.

"I shouted at him to surrender but the suspect continued running and jumped into the river. He was wearing a pink Kuala Lumpur police lock-up singlet and knee-length shorts.

Strong currents

The detective said Francis, who has since been classified as missing, drifted to the middle of the river due to the strong currents.

"He was floating feet down (vertically) with his back towards me," he said, noting that the weather was overcast on the afternoon in question.

The John Doe inquest is being held to conclusively ascertain the identity of a body recovered from the Klang river by the police on May 23, whose remains are still at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre mortuary.

M Puravalen, who is holding a watching brief for Francis' mother, G Sara Lily, said today two key documents - the post-mortem and DNA reports - which could help explain Francis' death were under study.

Yesterday, the court heard two police officers' testimonies pertaining to the arrest of Francis and the events prior to his alleged escape from custody.

Confusion reigned when Puravalen (photo) tried to establish, based on Chan's testimony and his earlier police report, whether Francis' handcuffs were locked during his alleged 'escape'.

Chan, the second witness in the inquest, was supposed to have continued with his explanation over the handcuffs poser today but the court was told that he was on medical leave for two days.

Outside the court, a teary-eyed Sara Lily expressed her disappointment when the court decided to adjourn hearing until Oct 21.

"His (Francis') body is lying cold in the mortuary. It's going to be six months. I don't know what to do ... what can I do? This is really terrible for me," she said.

Deputy public prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusoff assisted by Faizah Mohd Salleh is assisting the coroner while Puravalen was assisted by Ray Joseph and Ravi Nekoo.

Amer Hamzah Arshad held a watching brief for the Bar Council.