A coroner's inquest into the identity of a decomposed body found three months ago - claimed to be that of missing police detainee G Francis Udayappan by his mother - will continue from Sept 27 to Oct 1.

The date for the resumption was set today following a review by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Aug 19 which allowed the mother's lawyer to examine witnesses during the inquest.

Magistrate Nazran Mohd Sham, acting in his capacity as coroner, set the date after a mention hearing this afternoon in chambers with Deputy Public Prosecutor Ishak Mohd Yusoff and the mother's lawyer M Puravelan.

Puravelan also made two applications for copies of the relevant post-mortem reports together with chemist reports on DNA tests conducted thus far.

"I have also made an application to seek the assistance of the court to compel the police in expediting the necessary processes for the family to proceed with an independent DNA test," he said when contacted later this afternoon.

Nazran allowed the DPP a week to seek instructions from the Attorney-General's Chambers on accommodating Puravelan's requests.

Francis' mother, G Sara Lily, has accused the University Malaya Medical Centre - where the body is being kept - and the police of collusion to prevent her from conducting an independent DNA test despite her being given permission to do so.

'Substantial interest'

The inquest which began on Aug 10 was postponed to the next day after Puravelan made an application to the High Court to review Nazran's ruling which disallowed him from examining witnesses and evidence presented at the inquest.

High Court judge Mokhtaruddin Baki, in overruling the coroner's decision, stipulated that Puravelan had a right to ask witnesses questions and study evidence presented by the DPP at the John Doe (unidentified person) inquest.

He also said that Sara Lily had a substantial interest in the inquest and therefore her lawyer had the right to assist the coroner in reaching a well-informed decision.

Sara Lily positively identified the body which was fished out of the Klang River on May 23 as that of her 24-year-old son Francis based on a tattoo and tooth deformity but a subsequent DNA test conducted by the police did not reveal a match between the two.

Contacted today, Sara said she was not happy with the new date set for the inquest's resumption as it ' ... just means more waiting for me to claim my son's body and perform his burial rites'.

"The court said there are a lot of cases to handle. This just means I have to wait even longer now to take my son home ... but I will wait for my son's sake although it's difficult to handle this delay," she said in over the phone.

Police attitude

She said she was adamant on recovering the body and also on taking the police to task over their attitude in handling of the case.

"I've been lied to by the police and been treated unfairly ... all while my son's body is rotting in the morgue. I am waiting for justice to be served," she said.

The grieving mother has accused the police of beating her son to death and dumping his body in the Klang River which flows behind the Brickfields district police headquarters where he was being held on suspicion of a theft.

The police however, have denied the accusation and claimed that Francis escaped from the station on April 16 - two days after being arrested. An investigation carried out by the Federal police in May backed-up their claim and ruled out foul play.