Sessions court judge Norsalha Hamzah, sitting as a coroner investigating the death of Mohd Fadzrin Zaidi, 29, made the decision today to not allow the relevant documents to be served to the deceased’s lawyer, citing a section of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) in justifying holding back the documents.
“This is as good as having an inquest all to yourself. If you cannot give documents, then this inquest is a sham. I believe this is the first time a court in this country has made such a ruling and it shall never become precedent,” lawyer M Visvanathan said in a press conference outside the court.
He said it was highly unusual for the court to withhold documents at an inquest, adding that documents such as a sketch plan, pictures, CCTV footage and other internal reports are usually furnished to the watching brief counsel.
“What happened in court today is not normal. In an inquest, all relevant documents must be served to us. Otherwise, the investigation would not have any meaning.
The late Fadzrin, of Kampung Perlis, Butterworth, was first arrested by police for alleged drug possession on Nov 20, 2019, with his friends at an undisclosed location, his parents said. Police obtained a five-day remand the next day and he was placed at the centralised lock-up at the North Seberang Perai district police headquarters on Nov 21.
On Nov 22, he was declared dead by police, who claimed he had hanged himself. His death certificate stated his cause of death as “consistent with hanging”.
Visvanathan, who had appeared in high profile cases such as the inquest of Teoh Beng Hock, is the current chair of Eliminating Deaths And Abuse In Custody Together. He said that in order to facilitate meaningful investigation on how a person had died in custody, the necessary documents had to be tendered in an inquest.
He said the coroner, in rejecting the request for documents today, had cited Section 51A of the CPC saying it was “not applicable” in an inquest. He said it was a grave error to do so and he would be filing a review of the coroner’s decision with the High Court immediately.
He also revealed that the inquest had been postponed thrice before on Jan 4, Jan 19 and March 5, and the latest being today.
‘My son would not have taken his own life’
At the same press conference, Fadzrin’s father Zaidi Mohd Din, 57, said his son had been previously arrested by police three times previously for drug use.
He said Fadzrin’s urine sample had returned negative for drug use all three times and he was released by police.
“Fadzrin often got caught because he was often in bad company as his friends are known to dabble in drugs. But my son is not a drug user. He was jovial and respectful to his parents.
“For us to hear that he had hanged himself in a jail cell, is unbelievable. I would believe it if he was suffering from depression. He was not,” he said.
Zaidi said he last saw Fadzrin a day before he died, on Nov 21, 2019, when police brought him to court to be remanded. He said he appeared normal and asked him for a cigarette.
He said the following day, police called at 7.30am, asking them to head to the North Seberang Perai police headquarters, where Fadzrin was locked-up.
An investigating officer told them Fadzrin had died and had been taken to the Kepala Batas Hospital for post-mortem.
“He was always happy, I have never seen him having suicidal tendencies. I want to know how my son died, we want closure,” the fisherman father of eight children said.