Tamil phrases, live demonstration grab Coroner’s Court’s attention

SHAH ALAM: A few Tamil phrases and a live model demonstration involving a witness and court policeman grabbed the attention of Coroner’s Court here yesterday.

The Tamil words “ullaey vid- hathey” (do not let them in) and “adi khathey” (do not hit) were said in court when witness Sures Surunariani, 33, was questioned.

He was describing what a mob shouted when they charged towards a Fire Rescue Tender (FRT) truck and when the mob surrounded a uniformed man, who he believed was late firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim.

While lawyers at the proceedings easily understood those phrases, it took two lawyers and a court interpreter to figure out another Tamil phrase that Sures heard from a member of the crowd outside the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Subang Jaya on Nov 27.

Deputy public prosecutor Zhafran Rahim Hamzah asked Sures to describe a conversation he had with people who asked him for help to find their cars that night.

Zhafran insisted that Sures tell what he heard in Tamil, but the latter said the phrase was too difficult to translate to Malay.

The phrase was repeated by Zhafran and a court translator several times to try to understand it.

But counsel Maha Ramakrishnan, who is holding a watching brief for the Human Rights of Commission of Malaysia, stood up to clarify what the phrase meant.

“What he meant was ‘even a fireman they want to beat up is it?’” said Maha, adding that it was an expression of shock.

Later, Sures participated in a live demonstration on how he fell face down on an unconscious uniformed man sitting on the ground, who he believed was Adib.

It involved a court policeman sitting with his back leaning against a wall in the court room to act as Adib, while Sures showed how he fell with his right hand landing on Adib’s body and left hand landing on a car bumper that Adib was leaning against.

Sures said he was shoved by a crowd that had surrounded Adib, and as he got a closer to the fireman, he was kicked from behind and fell on him.

The request to do a live demonstration came from Syazlin Mansoor, the lawyer for the Housing and Local Government Ministry and Fire and Rescue Department.

Sures said he heard from a friend, Narresh Rajandran, 30, who was also at the temple that night, that a group of men carried on their shoulders an unconscious man in firemen’s fatigues.

However, he told the court that this information was related to him by Narresh and it was not something he saw.