This was in line with the opinion of another pathologist in the inquest but contrary to the view of still another.

Dr Nurliza Abdullah, who assisted in Smit’s post-mortem at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital morgue last December, told coroner Mahyon Talib that the 81 injuries found on Smit included “serious injuries” to her chest and pelvis.

Nurliza, the 21st witness to take the stand in the inquest, agreed with findings on the extent of the injuries but denied that they were what led to Smit’s death at Capsquare Residence.

“In general, findings from the post-mortem of the deceased have led me to conclude that the cause of death is chest and abdomino-pelvic injuries consistent with having fallen from a height,” Nurliza read from a pre-written witness statement prepared for the court today.

The 18-year-old model fell on the afternoon of Dec 7 from a 20th floor condo unit in the city belonging to an American-Kazakh couple she had befriended at the time, Alex Johnson and Luna Almaz. She was found sprawled in the nude on the balcony of a 6th floor unit later that day.

Dutch pathologist Dr Frank van de Goot previously testified that there was a chance Smit had been dead before falling from the condo unit, while Nurliza’s junior Dr Zunaizah Hilmi said Smit had died from blunt-force trauma due to falling.

When questioned by deputy public prosecutor N Joy Jothi about injuries to Smit’s head, Nurliza who earlier stated that bruises and blood clots were found during the autopsy, said they had been impacted the same by the fall.

When asked if that meant Smit could have died due to injuries to her skull, Nurliza reiterated her stand that the model had died due to blunt-force trauma to her chest and pelvic region. She said Smit had also injured her head when she fell through the 6th floor balcony roof.

“She hit her head on the surface… it must be considered, the roof structure, the awning, which she fell through and hit the balcony… This is why there are multiple injuries to her skull,” Nurliza said, using a Barbie doll provided by Jothi to illustrate what she meant.

Asked if there was a way to distinguish if the other injuries to Smit’s body, which ranged from her elbows and hands to the surrounding tissue of some of her internal organs were sustained during the fall, Nurliza said all of these were new as they were red in colour. She estimated them to be be about 24 hours old.

“Old injuries, about a few days old, are usually yellow in colour… All the injuries on the deceased showed the same colour (red) so they happened at the same time,” she said.

Nurliza’s testimony was in line with that of Zunaizah, who retracted all “opinion-based” statements after her remarks in court differed from those of the counsel holding a watching brief for Smit’s family on the cause of death. This included her view that Smit had died from blunt-force trauma.

Van de Goot, who was hired by Smit’s family to conduct a second autopsy, said he had found an injury on the back of her neck that was older than her estimated time of death of 24 to 36 hours before the autopsy was done on Dec 8. This led him to conclude that there was no other way she could have died apart from dying before falling.

Van de Goot also said it was possible that the combined effect of cocaine, alcohol, Polymethylmethacrylate and Phospholipid-related procoagulant activity, traces of which were found in Smit’s system, could have knocked her out before she died.

These traces were found in Smit’s urine and blood samples, as testified by Nurliza in court as well. She said she had not taken Smit’s temperature when conducting the autopsy as it was not protocol to do so. She said this should have been done when the body was first discovered.

However, this was not done by the police either.

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

Today is the 16th day of the inquest, which is underway to determine the facts and events leading up to Smit’s death and whether there is enough evidence to reopen the case and later bring it to trial.

The inquest continues this afternoon.