The coroner's inquest being held to determine the identity of a decomposed body recovered from the Klang River on May 23 last year took a turn today when a forensics expert testified that there was a high degree of possibility that the body was that of missing police detainee Francis G Udayappan.

"Considering the gender, age, stature, time or period of death and even the personal clothes (on the body), there are grounds to suspect that this is maybe the missing person. There is definitely a degree of suspicion," pathologist Professor Dr N Kasinathan told magistrate Nazran Mohd Sham acting as coroner.

He further testified that considering various factors, such as the physical characteristics of the body, the description of Francis and his mother's claims that her son was beaten to death before being thrown into the river, there was a 'high improbability that this was not, in fact, Francis'.

Despite this, however, Kasinathan said the evidence was inconclusive for him to positively identify the body found as that of Francis, who police claim escaped while in custody at the Brickfields police station.

"There may be a 'general identity', but the specific identity (of the body) has not been established so far," he said to a question from M Puravelan, counsel for G Sara Lily, Francis' mother.

Francis, 24, was said to have escaped from custody by jumping into the nearby Klang river on April 16.

Tattoo doubt

Kasinathan said that a 'tattoo mark' found on the body which Sara Lily (photo) insisted was proof that the body was that of her son, could not be made out in full due to the body's advanced state of decomposition.

"We could identify the small black patch on the area (of the left upper arm). Because we were not certain, a piece of skin was put through a histological examination. (Still) we could not confirm it," he said.

"Usually tattoo carbon pigments remain on parts of the skin, and usually we would be able to trace it. (But) the body had undergone such a far state of decomposition," he added.

"We also saw similar patches on the neck, on the top of the shoulders, and so on," Kasinathan said further, referring to black patches found elsewhere on the body similar to the mark that Sara Lily claims is a tattoo.

The pathologist, attached to the Universiti Malaya Medical Center, was then shown two pairs of blue 'New York' brand men's briefs that Sara Lily had bought for her son before his arrest.

He testified that the underwear were similar in size, colour, design and brand to the ones recovered from the body of 'John Doe', currently at the UMMC morgue.

Bloodstains

Kasinathan also attested to blood stains found on the tee-shirt and underwear taken from the body which, according to his judgement, were probably the result of a laceration or deep wound as opposed to abrasions or other injuries incurred after a rough fall or tumble.

The inquest being held at the Kuala Lumpur magistrate's court resumes on Feb 17. It is a result of a protracted battle between Francis' family, who claim the police beat the petty theft suspect to death and dumped his body in the river. An police investigation later ruled out any foul play.

Sara Lily had positively identified on May 25 the body at the UUMC morgue as that of her son based on a tattoo and teeth deformity.

However, a DNA test conducted using the mother's blood sample and a bone-marrow sample from the body, failed to prove a match.