‘I’VE NEVER SEEN INJURIES LIKE ADIB’S’
The seven broken ribs not detected during check-ups, says senior pathologist
“IHAVE never seen injuries as severe as those sustained by firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim.” This was the admission by Kuala Lumpur Hospital’s Forensic Department head, Datuk Dr Mohd Shah Mahmood, when describing the seven left broken ribs and other injuries that Adib sustained on the night of a riot outside the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Subang Jaya on Nov 27.
Dr Shah, who has 13 years of experience as a senior pathologist and has performed thousands of postmortems, said he was baffled as the broken ribs were not seen during check-ups on Adib, which were done at the National Heart Institute (IJN) on Nov 30, 17 days before he died.
The forensic consultant specialist said the broken ribs stated in the post-mortem report were among the unusual injuries on Adib’s body as they had fractured
in a straight vertical line, consistent with the impact of something hard, thin and vertical in shape.
“During a clinical check-up at IJN on Nov 30, we did not notice the fracture and there were no injuries detected on the left side of Adib’s back.
“We noticed the fracture during the post-mortem. We did not know how it happened until we sought assistance from the investigating officer to get a copy of Adib’s computed topography scan and X-ray to determine whether the injury occurred during or after the riot,” he said when answering questions by deputy public prosecutor Hamdan Hamzah.
He is the 27th witness in the inquest to determine the cause of Adib’s death. He said the HKL forensic team could only identify the cause of Adib’s injuries when it was roped in by the police to a conduct a reconstruction of the collision that involved the vehicle Adib was in on Dec 22.
“We had identified six possibilities which could have caused the injury, including whether Adib had hit the rear left or rightside of the Fire Rescue Tender (FRT) vehicle or its ladder, which was also on the rear of the truck.
“However, we noticed the hard, thin and vertical-shaped edge of the Emergency Medical Rescue Service (EMRS) van’s left front door.
“We concluded that the injuries (broken ribs) could be from the impact from the door. The door’s key plate could have caused the injury on the victim’s back.”
He said the impact premier (most amount of impact and injuries) occurred on the third rib as it had multiple fractures.
Dr Shah lauded his colleague, Dr Ahmad Hafizam Hasmi, who testified earlier as the 24th witness, who concluded that Adib’s injuries were inconsistent with injuries from being beaten up.
“Before we conducted the postmortem, we considered several possibilities, including Adib being beaten up, and that he was caught between the two vehicles (FRT and EMRS vehicles).
“However, based on the pattern of injuries, it is impossible for him to be impacted as Adib would suffer more injuries.
“We did not find defence wounds or injuries that were consistent with him being attacked.”
The inquest before coroner Rofiah Mohamad continues on Monday.
It was claimed that Adib, 24, died from severe injuries sustained after he was allegedly assaulted by rioters.
He was part of an emergency response team deployed to the scene to douse a vehicle fire.
Despite showing initial signs of recovery while being treated at IJN, Adib died on Dec 17.