Dr Frank van de Goot of the Netherlands, the 16th witness to take the stand, said he found an injury on the back of Smit’s neck that was older than her estimated time of death of 24 to 36 hours before Dec 8.

“I was a bit surprised when I looked at the left back part of the deceased’s neck. There was significant haemorrhage behind the head.

“The skin of the skull is thick enough to mask any internal bleeding from haemorrhages.

“(Since there were older bruises) this led me to conclude that there is a possibility she didn’t die because of the fall,” he said.

A pathologist from Hospital Kuala Lumpur previously told the court it was her opinion that Smit had fallen to her death based on the extent of her injuries, which were consistent with falling from a height.

“I don’t know what happened, but the wound behind her neck appeared 30 to 45 minutes before she fell,” van de Goot, 51, said when examined by deputy public prosecutor N Joy Jothi.

Asked how he arrived at this estimation, van de Goot, whose speciality is on injury dating, said there were active cells reacting in this spot to stop the bleeding, which would have taken up to half an hour before it was seen.

He agreed with the previous pathologist who testified earlier today and last week that Smit’s other bruises were consistent with acceleration-deceleration injuries caused by falling from a height – but not for the injury on her neck.

“According to the laws of physics, if she fell from a height of approximately 50m, she would have been falling at a speed of 100km per hour in three seconds.

“When something (travelling at that speed) is stopped, like when the body hit the metal roof, the impact of her left side is justified.

“But when I cut open her back near the skull, there was a complete rupture of the small tissues and a large blood pool had collected.

“I couldn’t find any signs of vitality here, which is remarkable because the skull had fractured.

“Something happened here before,” he said, adding that it was possible Smit could have fallen and injured herself prior to falling.

However, he stressed that it was not possible to determine how she had died based on this one injury in particular, even if it was older than the rest.

“Whatever I found doesn’t tell me how she died. The haemorrhage here could have been caused by anything, but not by falling.

“Then it would have been bleeding (externally) and the injury dating wouldn’t have found it to be older than the rest,” he said.

Van de Goot also said it was possible that the combined effect of cocaine, alcohol, para-Methoxyamphetamine (PMA) and para-Methoxymethamphetamine (PMMA), traces of which were found in Smit’s system, could have knocked her out cold.

He said it was impossible to rule on an accurate time of death for the deceased as he did not know the temperature of the body when it was found.

Today is the ninth day of the inquest into Smit’s death.

Smit’s nude body was found sprawled on a sixth-floor balcony at CapSquare Residences, off Jalan Dang Wangi in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 7.

She is believed to have fallen from a 20th-floor condominium unit belonging to an American-Kazakh couple she had befriended at the time, just after 1pm that afternoon.

Police originally classified the case as sudden death, but it was re-opened this year after Smit’s family claimed there were elements of foul play and cover-up.

The inquest is to determine how Smit died and whether there is enough evidence to take the case to trial.

Previous witnesses testified that Smit was a regular drinker and a troubled individual who frequented parties.

One witness said he saw her asking for drugs on one occasion.

The inquest continues this afternoon with van de Goot taking the stand again.