Kota Kinabalu: A murder trial involving 10 prison personnel charged with murdering an inmate at Kepayan Prison, heard that the inmate died of as a result of multiple blunt force injuries in a man with encephalitis.
Dr Murali Narayanasamy, 44, a forensic medicine specialist, told High Court Judge Datuk Christopher Chin Soo Yin, Tuesday, as the prosecution’s 28th witness.
Dr Murali, who was previously attached to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) here and currently attached to Hospital Taiping in Perak, stated that he had conducted a post-mortem examination on the remains of Shainal Mukhtar on Oct 7, 2019 at 9.30am at the QEH mortuary.
When asked by the prosecution to explain the said cause of death, Dr Murali broke it down into two components: first the sequelae of multiple blunt force injuries and, second, the encephalitis.
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“These complications include rhabdomyolysis, acute kidney injury and electrolyte abnormalities,” he said in clarifying the first component and explained further by referring to his report.
“The combination of confirmed rhabdomyolysis, acute kidney injury and electrolyte abnormalities constitute the sequelae which I mention in my cause of death,” said Dr Murali.
Explaining the second component which was encephalitis, the witness said: “The microscopic analysis of the brain tissue showed evidence that the brain was inflamed with features such as TIF of a viral infection which led me to conclude that he also suffered from viral meningoencephalitis.
“My final cause of death combines these two major components and, therefore, I concluded the cause of death as what I have written in my report,” he said.
The witness elaborated further that encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain.
“It is a very serious medical condition. In this case, I did not attribute encephalitis as an immediate cause of death, because the changes seen on the brain histology were focal (not widespread) and there were also no hypoxic neurons.
“If there were significant hypoxic neurons and widespread inflammation, I would have opined that encephalitis would be the immediate cause of death and not secondary as I have stated in this case,” said Dr Murali.
On trial were Barry Jipmon, 30, Mohd Dzulfikri Mohd Safri, 28, Farizan Mokri, 40, Mohd Saiful Saidin, 34, Amran Yasik, 25, Ab Mutalib @ Talib Abd Rasul, 40, Zerry Maidin, 33, Tomy Momoh, 36, Shahryll Nazry Wan Sofian, 25, and Muhammad Fazi Lakui, 32.
They were all jointly accused of murdering one Shainal Mukhtar, 36, in cell number 11, Gemilang Block, at Kota Kinabalu Central Prison, Jalan Kepayan near here at 4.20pm, between Oct 2 and Oct 4, 2019.
The 10 accused had on Aug 24, 2020 claimed trial to the charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code carries a death penalty on conviction.
Earlier, the witness said that the deceased had 16 injuries on his body.
Prosecution: Based on your expertise, can you tell the court, what is the possible cause that reveal extensive bruising below the skin of the deceased?
Witness: The extensive bruising is consistence with blind force trauma and can be caused by a blunt object or weapon, punching, kicking, fall on a hard surface or a combination thereof.
Prosecution: If someone wears a straitjacket can the extensive bruises to the skin be caused by himself?
Witness: In my opinion, it is rather unlikely that someone, who is wearing a straightjacket causes such severe injury or by himself.
Court: I am trying to understand the meaning of the cause of death as in your report. Am I right in saying that your opinion was that death was a consequence of the blunt force injuries on a person who had an existing condition of encephalitis?
Witness: Yes, that is right.
Court: In other words, the blunt force trauma alone did not cause or was not conclusive of the cause of death had it not been encephalitis.
Witness: In my opinion, it would still be the cause of death even though the victim suffered from encephalitis.
Court: … to arrive at your conclusion of encephalitis, is it possible to tell roughly how long the victim have this condition prior to his death based on your observation?
The witness replied by referring to a section of his report, that it may suggest that the infection has been going on for approximately two to three weeks.
The court then fixed Oct 26 to deliver its ruling on whether the accused will have to enter their defence or be acquitted of the charge, after the prosecution closed its case.
The court directed submission by parties to be filed and exchanged by Oct 17 and reply, if any, to be filed or served on Oct 20.
Director of Prosecution Sabah Mohd Taufik Mohd @ Mohd Yusoff, Deputy Public Prosecutors Rustam Sanip and Bryan Francis appeared for the prosecution.
Counsel PJ Perira, Chew and Ariel Dasan represented Dzulfikri, Farizan, Saiful, Mutalib and Zerry while Hairul defended Barry, Amran, Tommy, Shahryll and Fazi.
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