A key witness in the 'John Doe' inquest was grilled by lawyer M Puravelan at the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate's Court today for discrepancies in his account of the events of April 16, the day police claim G Francis Udayappan escaped custody and jumped into the Klang River.

In the presence of Magistrate Nazran Mohd Sham, who is acting as coroner, the court heard conflicting accounts by Sergeant Chan Kim Chai pertaining to the day he had recorded Francis' statement, the times at which the recording was supposed to have commenced and ended, as well as his physical and emotional condition on that day.

In reply to Puravelan's questions, who is representing Francis' mother G Sara Lily in the inquest to determine whether a body lying in the Universiti Malaya Medical Center (UMMC) is in fact her son, Chan initially confirmed that he had begun recording the statement into his computer on April 14 at 2:40pm before Francis allegedly tried to escape at 3:30pm.

Upon Puravelan's prodding, however, Chan conceded his inaccuracy in entering the date as Francis was only arrested on April 14 and had his statement recorded two days later.

Puravelan then proceeded to question the witness about the time he claimed he had begun recording Francis' statement, which conflicted with the time of 3:30pm which Chan had typed into his computer.

"Three-thirty was the time that the suspect fled. I put three-thirty for the purpose of remembering," he said in defence.

He also told Nazran that he had ommitted certain details of his physical and emotional state to a medical examiner after Francis' escaped as he was in "a state of pain and panic."

A pair of torn pants was presented as evidence in court today to prove Chan's knee injury while giving chase to a fleeing Francis, but Puravelan quizzed the officer as to the reason for his ommission of the injury in a medical report filed by a doctor examining him.

Chan, who said he had also suffered a spell of dizziness following a one-storey jump while chasing Francis, had also failed to inform the medical examiner of his other injuries such as the wound on his right hand, which was today dressed in a slim white bandage.

"You didn't tell the doctor that you had suffered some cuts to your right knee?" asked Puravelan.

"I hit some barbed wire and there were some cuts. (But) the doctor didn't ask about these, so I didn't tell him," explained Chan.

'Unsafe account'

When met after the proceedings, Puravelan said he was not attempting to insinuate that Chan was untruthful, but merely illustrating the "unsafe" nature of Chan's account.

The inquest was ordered after Sara Lily became embroiled in a protracted battle with the police over a highly decomposed body fished out from the Klang River on May 23.

She positively identified the body as that of her son based on a tattoo and teeth deformity.

She also accused the police of assaulting her son to death and dumping him into the river, a charge which has been refuted by the police.

He had been arrested two days before in connection with a theft case.

The police also said subsequent DNA tests failed to show a match between Sara Lily and the decomposed body.

However, the mother remained adamant and accused the UMMC of colluding with the police to cover up the case.

The first postponement of the inquest was on Aug 11 after Puravelan had filed an appeal in the High Court to overrule the coroner's decision to deny him questioning rights at the proceedings.

The High Court subsequently overruled the coroner's decision and allowed Sara Lily's lawyers to question witnesses and examine evidence introduced by the deputy public prosecutor.

A second postponement on Oct 25 followed as Puravelan had to undergo surgery for a horse-riding injury.

Nazran set the next inquest hearing for Tuesday Dec 7.