A former Indonesian canteen worker at the Brickfields district police headquarters told the Kuala Lumpur magistrate's court today of the events she saw during G Francis Udayappan's alleged escape from the station eight months ago.

After being questioned by Deputy Public Prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusof, she told Magistrate Nazran Mohd Sham, who is acting as coroner, that she saw Francis jumping over the first floor balcony with one of his hands cuffed.

However, she was unable to tell Francis' mother's lawyer, M Puravelan, which hand was cuffed.

Earlier testimonies had established that the handcuff was removed from Francis' right hand during an interrogation on April 16, the day he is said to have escaped.

'It happened quickly'

Relating the incident, Ayu Lestari Abdullah, 34, said everything had happened quickly.

"I heard the police officers shouting that someone was escaping and when I looked up from my table in the canteen I saw him jumping out of the balcony.

" I didn't see his hair style or his pants. I only saw that he was dark-skinned and had a pink police lock-up t-shirt on," she added.

Ayu, who was the first witness today, is currently unemployed and did not have her passport on her. However she was allowed to testify.

She also told the court that she saw a police officer jump over the balcony seconds after Francis.

"Just a few seconds later (the officer) jumped over the balcony and gave immediate chase," she said.

Earlier proceedings heard that the officer who jumped over the balcony was Sgt Chan Kim Chai. On Aug 10, Chan told the court that he had hit his head when Francis escaped his custody and was initially in a daze before collecting himself and giving chase.

'20 cops gave chase'

Continuing her testimony, Ayu said immediately after Francis had jumped, some 20 police personnel - some from the canteen (about 15m away) and others who were exercising in the station's open area - gave chase.

"After they gave chase, the escapee ran behind a building into some trees and then out to the river area. I immediately went to the fence close-by to look.

"The next thing I saw was a police officer throwing a rope into the river to the escapee who was struggling in the river," she added.

Ayu informed the court that Francis had refused to reach out to the rope and soon after submerged into the water and did not re-emerge. She also said the currents were strong on that particular day.

The coroner adjourned the proceedings till tomorrow at 2.30 pm.

The inquest materialised after Francis' mother, G Sara Lily, and the police became engaged in a protracted battle over a highly decomposed body fished out of the Klang River on May 23.

Sara has positively identified the body as that of her son. However, the police have claimed that a DNA test, conducted using her blood and a bone-marrow sample from the body, did not show match.

Sara has since also accused the police and hospital - where the test were conducted and where body still remains - of collusion.