Robbery suspect How Soon Hock was shot in his right eye following a deadly game of Russian roulette allegedly carried out during police interrogation, an opposition leader claimed today.
DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang said How, a carpenter, related to him during a visit yesterday on how the incident, which caused blindness to his eye, happened.
"Police officers brandished pistols at him, threatening to shoot him. In one such instance, one pistol went off, tore off his right eye," said Lim.
Lim added that How was subjected to severe beating of his soles with rubber hoses and "electric prod" treatment all over his body and two Russian roulette treatments where all the bullets except one in the chamber were taken out.
How (photo) was shot on Oct 6 while in police custody at the Puchong police station. He has since been charged with attempted armed robbery with a kitchen knife at a clinic in Puchong and is out on RM3,000 police bail.
Lim said How was informed by doctors at the Universiti Hospital that he could be dead if the shot had hit him half an inch higher.
"It can be no justification for the police assault and brutality, to the extent that he was subjected twice to a Russian roulette trifling with his life and repeated threats to shoot him," he added.
Lim said police should not claim that the shooting was "not intentional", adding that the Inspector General of Police Norian Mai should give his personal attention to this case to end such abuses of police powers.
Official version
The police version of the incident was quite different from what How had related to Lim.
Petaling Jaya OCPD Dell Akbar Khan was quoted by Bernama yesterday that How's shooting happened when a policeman "was returning his pistol to its holster when it suddenly exploded and hit the man."
Dell said the policeman was putting his Walter 9mm pistol into the holster in the midst of questioning How when it suddenly exploded and the bullet hit the victim, adding that this case has been classified as negligence.
The case is being investigated under Section 37 of the Firearms Act for negligence where the punishment is a fine of RM5,000 or two years' jail or both.
Dell, giving a chronology of events leading to the incident, said an armed robbery at a clinic was reported at 10.30pm on Oct 2, following which How and his brother-in-law were arrested the next day to assist in investigations.
On Oct 6, at about 3.30pm, How was questioned by a police inspector in the presence of a lance corporal who is alleged to have shot How.
Dell said after How was shot, the lance corporal took him to the Universiti Hospital for treatment.
How was discharged from hospital and was charged at the Petaling Jaya magistrate's court on Oct 11 under Section 393 of the Penal Code and was allowed bail of RM3,000 and his case has been fixed for hearing for Dec 4, said Dell.
Immediate ban
Lim also called on the Home Ministry to impose an immediate ban on Russian roulette as police questioning and intimidation technique.
The use of this technique by a police officer must be classified as a serious breach of police discipline, said Lim, adding that the parliament should be informed the number of people injured or killed in the use of this technique.
Lim also said the time was ripe for the appointment of a Police Ombudsman to conduct investigations into public complaints against police.
He added that such abuses were prevalent now, citing various examples of police killings.
One such was the case of mentally unstable Phevarajah Suppiah who was shot and killed by the police in Kluang on Oct 10 after holding a schoolboy hostage for four hours.
"It would be a different matter if Suppiah had been shot and killed when the police was trying to free the hostage but in actual fact, Suppiah was killed after the police had managed to get the boy away, and when Suppiah was running towards a church," he added.
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