KUALA LUMPUR: A Coroner's Court here has ruled that taxi driver Baharudin Ahmad had died of natural causes at the illegal Bersih rally on July 9 last year.
In his 14-page judgment, Coroner Zulkpli Abdullah said there was no evidence to prove that the injuries suffered by the 59-year-old were inflicted by any form of criminal force or negligence by any party.
Zulkpli was delivering his verdict in an inquest to ascertain the cause of the taxi driver's death at the Avenue K shopping mall in Ampang during the illegal rally.
“A post-mortem conducted by the 16th prosecution witness pathologist Dr Khairul Anuar Zainun revealed that Baharudin's death was due to Acute Myocardial Infarction, which was attributed to the narrowing of the coronary artery,” said Zulkpli yesterday.
He added that Dr Khairul Anuar also found that Baharudin's three fractured ribs were caused by Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) performed by the paramedic team and the deceased's broken teeth were due to the use of a laryngoscope at the Hospital Kuala Lumpur's emergency unit.
The coroner also said both Dr Khairul Anuar and the physician at the emergency unit Dr Munirza Murad had stated that the broken ribs were not the cause nor contributed to Baharudin's death.
Zulkpli also said the absence of “CS” (a chemical substance used in tear gas) on the clothes of the deceased ruled out suggestions by Baharudin's family counsel that he had died because of exposure to tear gas and water cannon.
Zulkpli added that the testimonies by the family members that the deceased was healthy and showed no symptoms of heart disease were insufficient for the court to doubt Dr Khairul Anuar's findings.
He also said there was no direct evidence as to why and how the deceased came to be at the Avenue K building that day, adding that based on evidence, the court believed the deceased was one of the rally participants.
Baharudin's wife Rosni Malan, son Muhammad Nasrul and daughter Ummi Mirza were present when the verdict was delivered.
DPPs Kalmizah Salleh, Ahmad Ishrakh Saad, Mohamed Shah Reza Noor Azman and Henry Tan represented the Attorney-General's Chambers while counsel Ahmad Jufliz Faiza and Patrick Dass appeared for the family.
Ahmad Jufliz told reporters outside the court that they were considering filing an appeal pending discussions with the family.
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