A file photo of Baharudin’s relatives with his picture.
The Coroner’s Court today fixed September 14 to deliver its decision on the inquest into the death of taxi driver Baharudin Ahmad who died while participating in the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9, last year.
Coroner Zulkpli Abdullah set the date after hearing submissions from both the prosecution and defence (representing Baharudin’s family).
Thirty-five witnesses testified in the inquest which began on January 30 this year.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Ishrakh Saad in his submission said Baharudin passed away due to a heart attack after fleeing from Jalan Ampang to the Avenue K building when police and Federal Reserve Unit warned the crowd at the Bersih 2.0 rally to disperse.
He said the theory by the lawyer representing Baharudin’s family who alleged that police and Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) conspired to distort the actual cause of his death by replacing the heart of the deceased with that of another dead man (Malay), on the night of the autopsy, was unfounded and merely an invention.
He said Baharudin’s family tried to prove that on the night of the autopsy on July 9, 2011, police had brought in the remains of one Sulaiman Ramley who had died of a heart attack in Petaling Jaya to the hospital’s forensic pathology department for the organ exchange.
“According to the family of the deceased, it was done to make it appear as if Baharudin had died of a heart attack (natural cause of death) rather than as a result of police action during the rally.”
Ahmad Ishrakh said the fact that Baharudin died of a heart attack was substantiated by the 22nd witness, HKL forensic officer Dr Ferwahn Fairis Ab Karim, who conducted the autopsy on Sulaiman and who denied replacing his heart with that of Baharudin’s.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Kalmizah Salleh submitted that no physical force was used on Baharudin before his death, including by the police, as testified by the 16th witness, forensic pathologist Dr Khairul Anuar Zainun.
Meanwhile, defence counsel Ahmad Jufliz Faiza in his submission said Baharudin’s death was not due to a heart attack as he had been a healthy man and had shown no indication of suffering from heart disease.
He said this was implied in the testimony of Rosni Malan, the wife of the deceased. — Bernama
