KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 09 | Bernama
-- Coroner Siti Shakirah Mohtarudin Wednesday visited the Sentul District Police Headquarters, where R. Gunasegaran was detained before he died at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital on July 16.
Siti Shakirah, who is handling the inquest on Gunasegaran's death, arrived at the police station's Narcotics Crime Investigation Division at 3.10pm, accompanied by Deputy Public Prosecutor, Shashita Mohd Hanipa, lawyer M.Visvanathan who is representing Gunasegaran's family, and several police personnel.
Earlier, Visvanathan made a request to Siti Shakirah that the court make a visit to look at the actual situation of the lock-up where Gunasegaran was detained.
Meanwhile, the third prosecution witness, Cpl Norazman Mohamad, 45, told the court earlier that he did not make any documentation on Gunasegaran, that is, the report on his urine test because the detainee could not urinate.
"In this context, I only recorded his (Gunasegaran) finger prints, even then, I only managed to complete one sheet," said Norazman.
When questioned by Shashita, the witness said he did not see the incident where Gunasegaran was said to have collapsed and fainted because he was involved in processing the documentation of other detainees.
Norazman told the court that he only came to know about the incident when told by Sgt Maj Rajinder Singh who took Gunasegaran to the hospital.
The inquest was being carried out to determine the cause of death for Gunasegaran, who had fainted while his finger prints were being recorded between 6.45pm and 7pm, and later died at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital at 7.40pm.
Norazman disagreed with Visvanathan's contention that other police personnel had purportedly hit and kicked Gunasegaran for not urinating.
"I did not see other police personnel hitting or kicking the victim to the extent that he had fainted and during his detention, there was no injury due to assaults because whenever there is an arrest, we merely hold the detainee," he added.
The inquest continues on Jan 13, next year.
