Fingerprints recovered by police from the scene of customs officer Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamad’s death, cannot be matched to him or the 14 Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers on duty on the same floor of the anti-graft commission’s Jalan Cochrane office at the time.

NONE “They were not complete. The were not enough bands to be used for positive identification,” assistant criminal registrar Puwira Jaya Othman told the inquest into the Selangor customs assistant director’s death, which sat for the 12th day.

He was referring to four partial prints lifted by police from the third floor pantry, from which window Sarbaini allegedly went out on April 6, prior to his fall from the ledge outside.

Puwira, who is stationed at the Criminal Registration Centre at police headquarters in Bukit Aman, however said that the lone fingerprint that is viable did not match to Sarbaini or the 14 prints taken from MACC officers.

As for the hand print found at the same scene, he was unable to compare it as he was not provided with any hand prints samples to match.

‘Theories about Sarbaini’s fall’

Meanwhile, the stuntman who assisted police to re-enact the possible events that led to Sarbaini's fall said that climbing out of the window is no mean feat.

“It is possible for an average person, but it would be difficult. It took me three to four minutes to climb out, for a normal person who is not a trained stuntman, it would take longer, much longer,” stuntman Mohd Haslir Azriff Ramley told coroner Aizatul Akmal Maharani.

On the subject of whether it is physically possible for a person to egress from the window, MACC lawyer Mohamed Shafee Mohamed then asked Mohd Haslir to comment on certain theories circulated on websites, in particular by self-exiled blogger Paja Petra Kamaruddin.

“You were there, that is why I ask. Others tell with a lot of tales and theories on the Internet, which had become the subject of a new police report,” said the attorney.

In particular, Mohamed Shafee asked if it is possible for a person to sit or squat on the window ledge and jump down from that position, as Sarbaini was supposedly forced to do in the theories circulated by the blogger.

Mohd Haslir, who also provided his services for the film industry including in the recent Senario Opocot movie, answered that while it is possible for a person to sit on the ledge, the person won’t be able to jump from the window in that position.

He also agreed that a person can squat on the window ledge but not for a long period of time.

‘Sarbaini’s fall a misadventure’

The last witness for today’s inquest proceedings was the senior consultant to the UKM Hospital forensics unit, which assisted police in the investigation into Sarbaini’s death.

Prof Dr Shahrum Abd Wahid confirmed the findings of his colleague , HUKM forensic pathologist Dr Faridah Mohd Noor yesterday, that the customs officer’s fall was accidental and not caused by neither homicide nor suicide.

He said that Sarbaini’s fall was “a misadventure” as Sarbaini knew the risks involved and yet executed the action of climbing out the window and standing on the ledge outside, which in turn led to his accidental fall.

The forensics expert posited that for some reason, maybe intense pressure from the MACC investigation, the deceased decided to bolt from the building.

“However he cannot go down using the lift as it needs a key card, he cannot also just walk out of the lobby as MACC officers may call the guard to stop him. He looked outside and the roof surrounding the first floor badmintion court looked near,” said the long-time forensics veteran.

Shahrum theorised that Sarbaini may have climbed out only to discover that the roof was in actuality much further that it looked. The effect he said was an optical illusion, something which was confirmed by Mohd Harlis in his earlier testimony.

His findings concluded that the customs officer fell while standing on the ledge to the left of the window he came out of, after slipping off the ledge.

He cited physical evidence like the final position of the deceased’s body, scratches around the window and paint and smudge marks on the person and clothing of Sarbaini as being conclusive proof that supported his conclusion.

Shahrum described this as he read out the contents of his report on the incident, its re-enactment and the second autopsy he conducted, giving a running commentary of explanations for the benefit of the inquest proceedings.

The inquest adjourned after Shahrum’s testimony. It will be resumed tomorrow when chemist Seah Lay Hong will take the stand.