Taipan USJ D9 (serious crimes) unit ASP Rodney Pasla Harris today told the court that he did not see any injuries on A Kugan, nor bloodstains on his shirt, when he saw him moments before he died.

He testified today at the trial of a constable with the Subang USJ police station, V Navindran, 28.

The constable is charged with two counts of causing grievous hurt to Kugan, 23, who died while in police custody, at of the Taipan USJ police station in Subang Jaya, between 7am and 4pm on Jan 16 last year.

 

Rodney said that he had entered the interrogation room where Kugan was “resting”, when he was told that the latter was having difficulty breathing.

“I saw that his lips were pale and his eyes were looking upwards, and his eyeballs were nearly popping out.

“He did not respond to my calls, so I tapped him on his shoulder, but there was no response,” he said when questioned by deputy public prosecutor Mohd Abazafree Mohd Abbas.

However, when he was showed a closeup photo of the deceased, he admitted that in the photo Kugan’s lips were bleeding and that his shirt was bloodstained.

“At the time of the event, I was focusing on his face,” he said.

Interrogation room

He had earlier told the DPP that he had entered the interrogation room for three to five minutes to speak to Kugan for the first time since his arrest, and only noticed bruising on his wrist, which he presumed was caused by the handcuffs.

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Rodney, who is the third to take the stand in the trial against his subordinate, Navindran, also told the court that he was on leave from the Jan 15 to Jan 19, and had left Inspector Faezal Munir in charge.

He only came back to work on Jan 20, and only knew that Kugan was held up at the D9 office since the wee hours of Jan 15.

Rodney said that he was being briefed by Sub-Inspector Loh, who was in charge of supervising all interrogations, when the accused came into his room to say that Kugan was having difficulty breathing.

He then ordered Navindran to fetch a doctor from a nearby clinic and Dr Baldev Singh, he said, arrived five to seven minutes after that.

On Friday, Singh had testified that Kugan had already dead when he arrived. According to Rodney, the time was 11.50 am.

Room now divided in two

He also confirmed that the deceased was found at the same spot where a partitioning wall had been erected.

The interrogation room has now been divided into two - the first being a reception room, leading into the second, an office.

Petaling Jaya Sessions judge Aslam Zainuddin found this out as he visited the police station for half an hour earlier today, to familiarise himself with the scene of the alleged crime. azlan

A partition, 10.15cm thick, separates the two rooms. It was put up in July or August last year, about seven months after the incident.

The office, measuring 1.83m by 3.66m, is now occupied by Chief Inspector Harun Abu Bakar.

Aslam arrived at the police station at about 10.42am. He arrived with DPP Mohd Abazafree Mohd Abbas, and they were met by Rodney.

They spent about 30 minutes at the interrogation room where Kugan was found, and the rooms around it.

Navindran's lawyer PM Nagarajan was also present.

Reporters, who were allowed to view the room, noticed that the glass door to the entrance of the room is covered with black paper.

It was learnt that, initially, it was supposed to be a place where the officers could rest but had then been turned into an interrogation room. Outside the room is an open office which, Rodney said, is occupied 24 hours.

The case has caused uproar over the tactics employed by police in interrogating suspects.

Hearing will resume at 9.30am tomorrow at the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court, with Rodney to be cross-examined by the defence.

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