COP: I TOOK 49 PHOTOGRAPHS DURING 3-HOUR POST-MORTEM
Pictures were taken at UMMC’s autopsy theatre
SHANTI GUNARATNAM KUALA LUMPUR news@nst.com.my
APOLICEMAN told the Sessions Court yesterday that he took 49 photographs during the more than threehour post-mortem of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s son-in-law at University Malaya Medical Centre in June last year.
Corporal Rosaidi Mat Zudin said during the post-mortem that was conducted from 1am until 4.25am, he and two other police officers were in the medical centre’s autopsy theatre, along with pathologist Dr Prasant and his two assistants.
He said he was allowed to take pictures of the examination by Dr Prasant.
Rosaidi, a supervisor at the criminal investigation department of the Pantai police station, said, at the examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Rosliana Zakaria, that he took pictures during the post-mortem of Datuk Syed Alman Zain Syed Alwi, on the instructions of his superior Assistant Superintendent of Police Ezral Ezwaini. “I was informed at 9.45pm by ASP Ezral that a orang kenamaan (very important person) had died and a lot of people had gathered at the medical centre’s emergency area and were going in and out, and he told me to control security there.
“At that point, I didn’t know who had died.
“I had arrived at the medical centre’s police beat base when I got the order for the crowd control and, later, to take pictures of the post-mortem,” said Rosaidi, who was the third prosecution witness at the trial of gynaecologist Dr Ting Teck Chin, 37, who is charged with causing the death of Syed Alman Zain at the Imperial Dental Specialist Centre at Jalan Telawi in Bangsar between 6pm and 9.05pm on June 1 last year.
Syed Alman Zain was married to Zahid’s eldest daughter, Datuk Nurul Hidayah Zahid.
According to the charge under Section 304(b) of the Penal Code, the accused may be jailed up to 10 years, fined or both, if convicted.
Dr Ting was represented by counsel Datuk K. Kumaraendran and Dev Kumaraendran.
The court also heard that Rosaidi had printed all the 49 pictures by 3.30pm on the same day (June 2), but his attempts to download the pictures from the memory card onto a compact disc (CDR) had failed because the memory card was corrupted.
However, the next day Rosaidi submitted all the pictures he had printed to the investigating officer of the case, ASP Yusma Yahya.
Earlier, police photographer lance corporal Mohamad Zahir Zainuddin told the court that he took six pictures of the dental clinic in Bangsar on June 2.
The pictures, he said, were of the front door of the clinic, the reception area, certificates that were framed and mounted on the wall and the different angles of the “Melbourne Room” on the first floor.
The court also heard evidence from constable Nor Hassan Azharin that he received a first information report (FIR) pertaining to the death in a dental clinic in Bangsar from a person called Datuk Faizal Azhar Abdul Rashid.
About 43 prosecution witnesses are expected to testify at the trial.
Hearing before judge Azman Mohd Nor continues.