Coroner: Adib’s death was due to criminal act, police failed to respond
SHAH ALAM: The Coroner’s Court in Shah Alam ruled that the death of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim was due to criminal act, perpetrated by two or three unknown individuals.
In her verdict after a gruelling 41-days of hearing, Coroner Rofiah Mohamad also said that the police failed to act accordingly to salvage the situation.
“The blunt chest trauma suffered by Adib was not self-inflicted. It was caused by two or three unidentified persons who dragged the victim out of the fire department’s van, while hitting him.
“I also find that Adib’s death was the result of the police’s and FRU’s failure to control the riot.
“The evidence clearly showed that there had been several fire incidents during the riots before the victim got involved.
“Firefighters were threatened by rioters who didn’t want the flames to be put off, but there were police officers on guard and the fires were successfully put out by the firefighters.
“It was very unfortunate when two troops of FRU with hundreds of personnel and seven various types of vehicles, including water cannon, only watched the rioters attack the firefighters without doing anything.
“They were only standing there with their weapons because they didn’t receive any orders to act, despite the tense situation,” she said.
Rofiah then said it was now up to the police and Attorney General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas to investigate the case and throw the book at those responsible for Adib’s untimely demise.
Earlier the lawyers representing Adib’s family arrived at the court at 8am, while journalists came earlier to get the security passes to cover the event since 7am.
Several federal Fire Department officers were also present at the court.
Adib, 24, who was a member of the Subang Jaya Fire and Rescue Department Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) unit was injured in a commotion at the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple site in USJ 25, Subang Jaya on Nov 27 last year.
After fighting for his life for 21 days, Adib succumbed to his injuries on Dec 17 at the National Heart Centre (IJN) in Kuala Lumpur.
By G Vinod
