Father: Inquest a waste of time

GEORGE TOWN: R. Muniandy’s hope for closure with regards to his daughter, M. Vasanthapiriya’s death after she was accused of stealing her teacher’s iPhone, was dashed yesterday when he failed to get the answer he has been waiting for.

The 54-year-old said the family was not happy with the findings of the coroner’s court upon the completion of the inquest held to determine the circumstances that led to his daughter’s death.

The coroner’s court ruled that the girl’s cause of death was suicide from hanging.

“Everyone who has been following the case from the beginning knows her death was from suicide. There is no need for us to be told the same thing again by the court. What we want to know is the circumstances that led to her taking her own life. We want to know what happened in school that day. We are not happy with the inquest. It’s a waste of time. We did not get the closure we wanted. We have been waiting in vain for nothing and will continue to wait in vain,” he told the New Straits Times Press.

Muniandy said he would bring the matter to the High Court until he got the answer.

It was reported that Vasanthapiriya died in Seberang Jaya Hospital following an attempt to hang herself, after she was accused of stealing her teacher’s iPhone in January.

She had denied the accusation and penned a note proclaiming her innocence. She hanged herself in her home and was found by her father, who rushed her to the hospital. She died on Feb 1.

Malaysian Tamilar Kural president David Marshel, who has been with the family since the beginning to demand justice, said those who testified in the inquest had tried to raise that “something was not right” in Vasanthapiriya’s home.

“But there was nothing on the scenario at the school. Our lawyer, appointed to hold a watching brief, was not allowed to cross-examine the witnesses.”

He said there would be a press conference today to discuss the family’s next course of action.