A pathologist who performed a post-mortem on Teoh Beng Hock said the cause of death of the political aide was multiple injuries due to a fall.

Dr Khairul Azman Ibrahim said that his check on Teoh's body revealed that the latter had suffered multiple injuries mostly to the right side of his body.

Khairul also said that a bone fragment was found in a sock worn by Teoh on his right foot.

NONE Khairul, from Hospital Tunku Ampuan Rahimah, Klang, said that he conducted the post-mortem on Teoh on July 17, a day after Teoh's body was found on the fifth floor landing of Plaza Masalam, following interrogation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

He was testifying at an inquest set up to probe into Teoh's death.

Reading from his report, Khairul said that Teoh's body had several lacerations and fractures.

He said that he did not find any injuries caused by a struggle.

He added that there were no injuries to the outer part of Teoh's arms or palms to indicate that Teoh had shielded himself from any attacks.

22 injuries in all

Khairul further said that there were altogether 22 injuries on Teoh's body.

They include multiple punctuate abrasions on right forehead, haematoma over right cheek, laceration (cut) over lower lip, abrasion over left side of neck, and fracture and dislocation of right sacriilliac joint (the rib cage protecting the heart).

Teoh's left forearm was also fractured while his right leg was shorter than his left, added the pathologist.

He also said that a vertebrae part of Teoh's neck was fractured and the adjacent area showed signs of haemorrhage.

He further said that Teoh's chest was also crushed as a result of the fall, causing the fracturing of almost all rib bones.

"There was chest cavity of 700 ml fluid of blood and blood clot on right chest. Left lung shows two tears over upper lobe," he added.

Died between 11am and 1pm

Khairul said he believed Teoh landed on his feet, falling more on his right side based on the injuries on the body.

He added that Teoh had died between six to eight hours before 7.15pm on July 16, adding that he visited the scene at 7.15pm and by then Teoh's body had stiffen.

teoh beng hock inquest 070809 window.jpg Khairul also inspected the said window where Teoh was said to have fallen from and noticed that it was at waist length.

The doctor further said that he conducted the post-mortem jointly with Dr Prashant Naresh Samberkar from Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur.

Prashant's participation was due to a request from Teoh's family for an independent consultant to be present at the procedure.

Khairul said the procedure took about five hours - from noon to 4.50pm.

He also added that the post-mortem report was jointly produced by him and Prashant.

At about 3pm, coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas adjourned the inquest to tomorrow as Khairul was unwell. The witness will continue tomorrow before Dr Prashnant takes the witness stand.

Suspicious stains not blood

Earlier at the inquest, the government-appointed lawyer Tan Hock Huan, who is assisting the coroner, briefed the inquest on the test results from the stains found at the office of the Selangor MACC.

He said that samples of the suspicious stains taken from three places - the 15th floor office, the emergency staircase at 15th floor, the 14th floor office - showed that they were not blood.

He added that the tests were done by the police forensic team with the presence of two forensic experts invited by the Selangor government and Teoh's family.

He further said that no more tests would be done on the stains.

However he said that the forensic team had found four stretches of fibres at the 5th floor corridor where Teoh's body was found. These fibres would be sent for further testing.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Abazafree Mohd Abbas is assisting Tan at the inquest.

Under cross-examination tomorrow

teoh beng hock inquest attorney general website 070809 02 Counsel Gobind Singh Deo and Sankara Nair are appearing for the Teoh family, while counsel Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and Sreekanth Pillai are representing the Selangor government.

Lawyers Cheow Wee and Richard Wee are holding a watching brief for the Bar Council.

Tomorrow's session is expected to see Gobind and other lawyers representing the Selangor government and Bar Council cross-examining Khairul.

This will be followed by testimony from Prashant who co-wrote the post mortem report with Khairul.

Federal Territory forensic head Dr Mohd Shah Mahmood, who did not perform the post mortem but was at the crime scene on the evening of July 16, may also make an appearance.

Click here for 8-page post-mortem report