The Coroner’s Court has determined that the death of six-year-old William Yau Zhen Zhong, whose body was found at Kampung Sungai Sireh jetty in Port Klang on Jan 24, was due to misadventure.

Coroner Mohd Hezri Shaharil in his judgment said based on testimony of witnesses and evidence produced during the inquest, the court had to rule out foul play, including by the boy’s parents, as the cause of death.

However, the coroner did not dismiss elements of negligence that could have led to the boy’s death.

“Based on the testimony and evidence produced before me during the inquest, it is believed that William had slipped into the drain near Jalan Putra Mahkota, Putra Heights, Subang Jaya and sustained an injury which led to his death,” he said when reading out the 17-page judgement.

Mohd Hezri said the court also dismissed the theory that the boy was kidnapped before he was killed since the phone call received by the boy’s mother asking her to prepare a ransom was made long after the boy was reported missing.

    

“The court also believed that when the first phone call asking the family to prepare RM80,000 as ransom payment was received, the boy had already passed away,” he said.

He said during the incident, William was only six years old and a boy of that age would be prone to making mistakes due to his immaturity.

Therefore, the court does not reject the possibility that on the night of Jan 16, 2013, the boy had left his parents’ car and headed towards the nearby field.

“The fact that the drain is located near the field strengthened the theory that the boy had unintentionally went to the open drain, slipped and hit his head on hard rocks before being swept away by currents in the drain which connects directly to the Klang River and to Port Klang,” he said.

The coroner said based on the testimonies given by witnesses, including William’s brother and father’s workers, the boy was never seen to have been abused or beaten by any of his family members.

“The theory that the boy was abused was rejected through the report prepared by Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital forensic medicine expert Dr Nur Ayutimasery Abdullah.

Fracture on the back of William’s skull

He said Nur Ayutimasery, however, had pointed out a fracture on the back of William’s skull which she said could have been caused by blunt force trauma.

“She also did not reject the possibility that the injury to the skull could have been caused by a hard impact due to a fall,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mohd Hezri said it was impossible to determine the exact time of death as the boy’s body was found eight days after he was reported missing.

The exact location where the boy breathed his last was also not able to be determined, he said.

However, based on the locations where the boy was reported missing and the location where his body was found, the court agreed that the boy had died long before his body was found floating at the jetty.

Twenty-one witnesses were called to testify in the inquest to determine the cause of William's death, which began on March 11 and ended on May 31.

Deputy public prosecutor Lee Keng Fatt and brief lawyer of William’s parents, Goh Kim Lian, assisted in the inquest proceedings.

Also present were William’s parents Goh Ying Ying, 26, and Yau Kok Kang, 33.

William was reported missing in Putra Heights, Subang Jaya, on Jan 16 after he left his parents’ car to find them after they stepped in to an electrical store to buy a washing machine.

- Bernama