Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Lorry driver wants second post-mortem done on daughter

SHAH ALAM, Feb 22 — A man today sought for a second post-mortem to be done on the remains of his daughter, who died just five months after getting married, claiming there were elements of abuse in her death.
M. Subramaniam, 52, a lorry driver, filed an application to the effect through his lawyer Gurmit Singh Hullon at the High Court registry here.Subramaniam is seeking a court order for a second and independent post-mortem done on the remains of his daughter S. Pakiam, 23, at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) in Petaling Jaya by forensic pathologist Dr Karunakaran Mathiharan.

He also wants the remains of Pakiam, which are now at the Serdang Hospital, brought to UMMC so that the cause of her death could be determined in accordance with section 326 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Further to this, he wants an inquest to be called to get to the bottom of the case and for his lawyer to be present during the second post-mortem.In his affidavit in support, Subramaniam said Pakiam’s arranged marriage took place on September 10 last year and that she was of sound health, physically and mentally.
He said following her marriage, Pakiam, the second of four siblings, lived with her in-laws in Padang Serai, Kedah.

Subramaniam said on February 12, his wife P. Thobathi, 43, went to Padang Serai to visit Pakiam on learning that her daughter had allegedly been badly beaten by her husband and was in critical condition.
Thobathi, however, claimed she was prevented from seeing Pakiam by the husband, said Subramaniam, adding that at 11.30pm the same day he received a call from his wife that Pakiam had died.Subramaniam said he then went to Padang Serai to bring home Pakiam’s remains and when he got there, he was told by her husband that Pakiam had died after taking medicine for a stomach ache.

He further claimed that when he checked her body, he found injury marks all over, including cut wounds on her hands, cigarette stub marks on her abdomen, finger nails prised off, head swollen and teeth missing.
He said he then lodged a police report on February 14.Subramaniam said he was filing for the second post-mortem to be done because the police and the Kulim Hospital, which did the first post-mortem, did not do a good job.Gurmit Singh told reporters that the High Court had set Thursday to hear the application. —

Source : Bernama

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