Forensics show Timol didn’t jump
AHMED Timol suffered a massive depressed skull fracture which was not consistent with a fall. This would have rendered him in an out-of-consciousness state or totally unconscious.
He would not have been able to jump out of a window, testified two forensic pathologists who took the stand yesterday in the inquiry into the anti-apartheid activist’s death.
Dr Shakeera Holland and Professor Steve Naidoo both came to the same findings after studying the 1971 postmortem reports after Timol’s death that year.
Naidoo made an additional finding – Timol had suffered a massive lower leg fracture which would have made it impossible for him to walk, let alone climb on to a ledge to reach the window.
He said this injury could have been caused by something like an iron rod.
The pair testified in the North Gauteng High Court during the second part of the inquest into Timol’s death.
In the 1970s, a magistrate agreed with security police that Timol had committed suicide.
Timol’s family and friends never believed this and asked for the inquest to be re-opened 46 years later.
Both Holland and Naidoo said based on their medical expertise and after studying his injuries, they too, do not believe Timol could have committed suicide.
Naidoo said of the 35 injuries Timol had sustained, only about 10 could have been related to a fall.
The rest were across parts of his body which would not have been affected by a fall.
Naidoo attributed these injuries to blunt force trauma meted out before the fall.
The massive blow to his skull would have either rendered him comatose or drifting in and out of consciousness.
He would have been incapacitated and certainly not been able to sit up, let alone walk, Naidoo said.
The expert testified that he visited the interrogation room 1026 of the then-John Vorster Square this week.
The room is 2mx8m with a window situated several centimetres above the ground. The window would have taken some effort to reach, let alone throw oneself out of, he said.
Naidoo said in his opinion Timol, in the state he was in, would certainly not have been able to do so.
Earlier, Holland said according to her findings, Timol had an injury to the skull which might have been caused by a blunt object such as a hammer or iron rod. “This fracture seems unrelated to the site of impact and is not associated with the linear base of skull fractures.
“Isolated depressed skull fractures are not commonly seen in falls from heights.
“There were a number of wounds which could not be attributed to the fall from a height.
“There are multiple well defined bruises, which are not consistent with a fall from a height,” said the pathologist.
The inquest continues.