Teoh Beng Hock could have sustained several bruises before falling nine floors two years ago, the royal commission of inquiry into the political secretary&rsquo;s death was told today.


 Bar Council lawyer Christopher Leong also suggested to forensic pathologist professor Dr Peter Vanezis that Teoh could have received &ldquo;one or two blows&rdquo; to the chest prior to the fall.


 <img align="left" alt="azlan" height="200" src="https://i.malaysiakini.com/255/b1515aea9e0ba3b99fa5655c577e994c.gif" width="300"/>
 Agreeing that there is a likelihood, Vanezis said: &ldquo;I cannot rule out the possibility that in isolation there could have been one or two blows which could have caused light bruising (on the chest).


 However, the tramline bruises to the chest, as well as bruises at the neck region and the hairline fracture to the skull, were not clear enough to prove Teoh was hit, stressed Vanezis, giving it as his opinion that they were pre-fall injuries.


 Teoh, political secretary to Seri Kembangan assemblyperson Ean Yong Hian Wah, was a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission witness in the probe pertaining to allegations of misuse of state funds.


 His body was discovered at the fifth floor landing, after spending a night at the 14th floor office of the Selangor MACC building at Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam.


 
 Fully conscious
 


 The expert, who had previously testified at an inquest into Teoh&rsquo;s death, had ruled out suggestions that Teoh was strangled and concluded that he was fully conscious upon the fall.


 He was engaged by the MACC as an independent consultant and he supported the theories of government pathologists Dr Khairul Azman Ibrahim and Dr Prashant Naresh Sambekar that Teoh&rsquo;s death was an act of suicide.


 Leong suggested that the pressure to the chest similar to that used for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) which could cause bruising, as the revival method used commonly in cases of cardiac arrest, could cause fractures to the sternum located at the chest area.


 The medical science professor, however said that the fractures to Teoh&rsquo;s ribs identified in the post mortem were &ldquo;extremely unlikely&rdquo; to have been caused by CPR and were most likely caused by transferred force from the fall.


 
 
 "That is a possibility. The transmitted force would move the spine and this would cause fractures due to the difference in movement between the chest and the spine," said Vanezis earlier on in the day.


 He also disagreed when suggested that chest bruises were caused by someone "stomping on Teoh".


 Fractures to the sternum could happen without leaving a bruise, if someone was to sit on Teoh, said Vanezis, who also disclosed that the 4cm fracture on Teoh's skull was in line with hitting a hard surface.


 "It is a linear fracture, which is different from a depressed fracture which one would get if one was hit on the head with an object such as a hammer."


 He also said that the skull fracture was consistent with Teoh "hitting a flat surface with force", after observing the second postmortem on the deceased on November 22, 2009.


 <img align="left" alt="teoh exhumation exhumed 211109 porntip" height="219" src="https://i.malaysiakini.com/222/2d94b2b39ed7d69cbcc2aba53802422e.jpg" width="173"/>
 Leong asked if there is a likelihood "a cricket bat" could cause a linear fracture but Vanezis discounted the possibility as one "would have to hit really hard" to cause such an injury.


 Thai forensics expert Dr Porntip Rojanansunan (
 
 left
 
 ), who was engaged by Teoh's family, who also partook in the second autopsy on the deceased after the exhumation, had said that there was "blunt force" applied to the neck which resulted in bruising.


 Porntip's assertion varied from the three pathologists as she said that there was an 80 percent chance that Teoh's death was homicide.


 Summarising her conclusion, Leong asked if the neck region bruising was caused by strangulation.


 "Bearing that there had been this hyperextension to the neck, you would expect to find bruises in this area, bleeding from the muscles surrounding the spine as the neck had been stretched," said Vanezis.


 "The bruise is related to hyperextension of the neck, it does not have that pattern of forceful bruising she (Porntip) is talking about, in my opinion it is more connected to other injuries sustained during the fall. The bruising is not extensive," he said.


 "(There is) no evidence of fingernail scratches on the neck, no fracture to the larynx or hyoid bone, no deep bruising to the muscles around the larynx, no petichiae in the eyes," said Vanezis.


 Vanezis recounted his theory where Teoh landed on his feet as a sign that he was conscious during his fall.


 
 Fatal fall
 


 Leong also suggested that Teoh could have been unconscious before the fatal fall.


 "Teoh could have possibly been restrained. A neck hold could have injured the carotid artery and the vagus nerve (in the neck area) to render him unconscious.


 "The person or persons, did not know what had happened and applied CPR to Teoh as they thought Teoh was gone and they decided to throw him down the window. But sometime in the fall he regained consciousness," suggested Leong.


 But Vanezis said this was "extremely unlikely" due to the level which the window could open, adding it was impossible to force someone out without leaving marks on the window.


 "A person who is conscious and aware would leave some marks to a small window as he would be struggling... even if unconscious, I find it hard to believe that there were no marks" said Vanezis.


 "The scenario is unlikely... it's a great leap of faith (to say) at some times he was conscious and unconscious at others," he added.


 Vanezis added he was unable to determine petichiae as Teoh's eyes had decomposed by the time the second autopsy was conducted.


 There are instances, said Vanezis, when a neck hold, known as the &lsquo;carotid sleeper', could cause rapid unconsciousness, without leaving behind traces of petichiae.


 "It would cut blood flow to the brain. The person would collapse and you could then put handcuffs on him," he said, adding that enforcement officers used it to subdue assailants.


 Petechiae or blood spots, would also help "rule out possibilities of foul play", said Leong and Vanezis agreed.


 According to Leong, however, the presence of the petechiae in Teoh's eyes or facial skin was not specified by Khairul in his first post-mortem report.


 Vanezis said that petechiae or &lsquo;asphyxiated blood' stays in the whites of eyes and face area as "capillaries break down when the blood cannot flow back to the heart".


 The expert witness told off Leong, at one point, as he kept pressing on the matter of Teoh being unconscious.


 "It's almost like two wrongs do not make a right. When we look at it we have to look at in perspective... you are trying to comprehend it and trying to make it fit into what you are thinking," said Vanezis.


 The inquiry resumes tomorrow with Vanezis on the stand.

TEOH RCI
 


 UPDATED 10.43PM

The British forensic pathologist says he cannot rule out the possibility there could have been one or two blows.

Vanezis: Beng Hock could have sustained bruises

~RM12

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