Tears flowed again at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today as Teoh Lee Lan testified in the hearing of the negligence suit against the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over her late brother Teoh Beng Hock's death.

penang never repeat forum 200811 teoh lee lan Lee Lan ( right ), 33, burst into tears at the witness dock as senior federal counsel Azizan Md Arshad kept asking her about Beng Hock's fiancee Soh Cher Wei's pregnancy at the time of his death.

She is the 11th witness for the negligence suit against MACC, the government and 12 others for causing them sorrow and loss of dependence.

On Tuesday, when her sister-in-law Soh took the stand, the latter also could not hold back her tears during her emotionally-charged testimony.

Lee Lan, meanwhile, began today's hearing wearing a sombre scowl on her face and appearing cautious and calm as she responded numerous times as Azizan asked for clarifications to her answers.

However, her composure broke when Azizan's line of questioning turned to Soh and how long Lee Lan had known about the pregnancy, whereupon the bereaved sister burst into tears.

candlelight vigil for teoh beng hock 140811 mother She was seen wiping her tears while answering questions for about 20 minutes, at the same time asking Azizan not to "twist" his questions.

"I've told you many times, Beng Hock sent me an SMS and informed me about Soh's pregnancy, and I knew it was a two-month pregnancy only after his death," she said.

Her grief permeated the air and Beng Hock's mother Teng Shuw Hoi ( left ) and a journalist in the public gallery were also seen sobbing.

High Court judge Rosaini Saub asked if Lee Lan needed a break, but she said she was fine enough to proceed.

Outside the courtroom, the emotional sister told Malaysiakini that she cried not because of pressure from Azizan, but from recalling the family's initial joy to welcome the baby.

That was, she said, until everything was destroyed by her brother's death in 2009 at MACC Selangor's premises.

Family rushed over pathologist

According to Lee Lan's written witness statement, the family was given only five to 10 minutes to appoint their own pathologist for the post-mortem.

"The inspector-general of police told my brother Teoh Meng Kee that we had only five to 10 minutes to assign a pathologist if we wanted to... the time was too short, there was no way we could make it," she said.

teoh beng hock plaza masalam macc sprm 160709 candlelight vigil Lee Lan added that they were not allowed to check Beng Hock's body at the scene of his death ( left ).

After the incident, Lee Lan said, the family, on July 17, 2009, was informed that Universiti Malaya pathologist Dr Prashant N Samberkar was their representative.

"A few weeks after the post-mortem, we were told that Dr Prashant was actually assigned by the government. So, the post-mortem was completed without our family's pathologist," she said.

Lee Lan revealed that the Selangor government subsequently contacted Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand to be the family's pathologist, but she was only allowed to observe the second post-mortem.

teo beng hock plaza masalam macc 170709 vigil 01 To Azizan's question on Beng Hock's unknown secrets, Lee Lan stressed that her family members are close to one another and have no hidden secrets.

She even described Beng Hock as a "happy-go-lucky type" of person.

Based on her written statement, Lee Lan told the court that Beng Hock had planned to bring their parents to Bangkok for a vacation in October 2009.

Reiterating that there was no reason for Beng Hock to commit suicide, Lee Lan explained that it was because her brother was eager to marry and looked forward to his newborn child.