UTM to do computer animation of Teoh’s fall, says RCI
By Boo Su-Lyn, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 2 — Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) will create a computer reconstruction of Teoh Beng Hock’s plunge from a building, the royal panel investigating the death of the DAP aide said today.
Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) chairman Tan Sri James Foong said UTM has agreed to create a computer animation showing how a person of Teoh’s height and weight could have fallen 32.9 metres.
“This will be done with a similar size and weight of the (model), rather than what was done before,” said Foong at the inquiry today.
“They will take into consideration the wind conditions, direction (of the fall),” he added.
Investigating officer (IO) ASP Ahmad Nazri Zainal testified last week that government forensic pathologist, Dr Prashant Naresh Samberkar, had tried to reconstruct a fall from the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam, using a plastic bottle and a teddy bear.
Teoh’s body was found on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam after he had been questioned overnight by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) at its then Selangor headquarters on the 14th floor of the same building.
Ahmad Nazri said Dr Prashant had decided that his experiment was not valid as the items used did not reflect Teoh’s weight.
MACC lawyer Datuk Seri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said today that the 30-year-old political secretary was 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighed 70 kg.
Foong, a sitting Federal Court judge, also said the computer animation would factor in one’s state of consciousness.
“We wait for the pathologists to also be involved,” said Foong.
Dr Prashant and another government forensic pathologist, Dr Khairul Azman Ibrahim, have argued that Teoh was likely conscious when he plunged from the Selangor MACC headquarters on July 16, 2009.
Both forensic pathologists also believe that Teoh probably jumped to his death as he had landed on his feet, which they said was indicated by fractures on both feet.
“From … the pattern of injuries, there is projectile during the fall. He tried to jump at a certain distance,” Dr Khairul said yesterday.
Dr Prashant said today that Teoh likely squatted on a 3 mm to 5 mm-wide window ledge before jumping off as there were scratches on the soles of the latter’s shoes.
“If a person is sitting or squatting on that ledge, there must be support,” said Dr Prashant.
“He can be holding the sides of the frame,” he added.
