Witness: Teoh might have been dragged
(Malaysian Mirror) – Political aide Teoh Beng Hock might have been dragged before his body was found on the fifth floor corridor of the Plaza Masalam here on July 16.
Investigating officer Chief Inspector Mazli Jusoh, 31, said he did not dismiss that possibility after he was shown friction marks on the sole of Teoh's right shoe, found at the scene of the incident.
The investigator, from the Selangor police forensics branch, was the first to be questioned as the inquest into Teoh’s death enters its seventh day Thursday.
Mazli talked of the swabs he took at the Selangor office of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission at the plaza here.
He said two swabs each were taken from a 14th floor window in the building and the sofa where Teoh had allegedly slept on after he was interrogated by MACC officers.
No footstep marks on window sill
To a question by Malik Imtiaz Sarwar (pic) , the human rights lawyer acting for the state government, the chief inspector said there were no footprint marks found on the window sill.
“I have checked. The place is dusty. If someone had set foot there, there must be shoe prints,” he said.
He added that based on scratch marks on the sole of Teoh’s shoes, there was a possibility that he (Teoh) was dragged.
Mazli agreed with Malik’s suggestion that the friction marks had an important implication.
Malik asked again: “Is it possible that the deceased could have been dragged?”
Mazli: “No, because normally, if a person is being dragged from behind, he would resist with his heels.
Malik: “If he was dragged from the side?”
Mazli: “Yes.”
Cloth was aprt of the shoe
Mazli explained to coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas (pic) that the friction marks that exposed a piece of cloth stuck to the shoe sole was not a foreign material but was part of the shoe itself and could not be removed.
However, he admitted that he did not check the friction marks. He added that he just inspected the scene of the incident and found nothing that matched the material glued to the shoe.
Lawyer Richard Wee, who is also holding a watching brief at the inquest, asked whether there was something sharp at the window on the 14th floor that could cause a tear to the victim's pants, Mazlin replied, “No.”
The investigator said he also did not find any fabric threads at the window frame on the 14th floor, where the Selangor office of the MACC is located. He said as the window frame and pane was dusty, the result from the dusting method for finger prints was negative.
Case exhibits produced in court
Earlier, the coroner was shown case exhibits from the scene of the incident that included a pair of white pants, with a tear in the back and tainted with dry blood stains, a pair of shoes, a wristwatch band and mark samples taken from the sofa and the 14th floor window of the building.
Mazli also told the inquest that during the scene inspection on July 16, he found a tooth near the victim's body. He also found a dent mark on the floor where the body was found, a dent mark on the window frame and an indication of a broken window latch on the 14th floor.
Teoh, 30, the political aide to Selangor state executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah was found dead on the 5th floor of Plaza Masalam on July 16 after giving his statement to the Selangor MACC in its investigation into alleged misuse of state allocations.
