Navy officer denies assaulting late cadet Soosaimanicckam

A Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) officer denied that he sat on the late J Soosaimanicckam’s stomach and slapped him repeatedly during a cadet training session at KD Sultan Idris in Lumut, Perak.

Lieutenant Abdul Ariff Abdul Halim, 29, refuted the allegations while being cross-examined in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today by lawyer Zaid Malek.

Zaid was representing S Joseph, the father of the deceased Navy cadet, in a lawsuit against 11 defendants, including Navy officers, the RMN chief, the Malaysian Armed Forces Council, the defence minister, and the government.

Zaid questioned Abdul Ariff about his witness statement from May 18, 2018, suggesting that he sat on the deceased and assaulted him.

Abdul Ariff denied the claims, asserting he did not sit on or hit the deceased, nor did he shout or scold him.

Former RMN cadet Anas Hakimi Mat previously testified that he saw a second lieutenant, identified as Abdul Ariff, sitting on Soosaimanicckam’s stomach and repeatedly slapping him.

Earlier, Abdul Ariff, during his testimony, explained that on May 18, 2018, he was the second lieutenant on duty responsible for overseeing the physical activities of Graduate Cadet Officers (PKG), when he noticed that Soosaimanicckam was not doing push-ups.

“I approached Soosaimanicckam, sat behind him in a half-squat position, patted his shoulders a few times and lifted him slightly to encourage him to continue the exercise,” Abdul Ariff said today during the court session held over Zoom.

Abdul Ariff, the eighth defence witness, currently attending a nautical cartographer course at the Dalian Naval Academy in China, said he never spoke to the deceased and only knew Soosaimanicckam as a PKG trainee.

Meanwhile, medical officer Dr S Saravanan told the court that the autopsy revealed signs of pulmonary oedema (fluid in the lungs) and that the deceased’s lungs were heavier than normal.

“Pulmonary oedema can cause death rapidly if there is failure of crucial organs like the heart, liver, kidneys, or lungs. In this case, I believe the lung failure caused by an infection led to the deceased’s sudden death,” said the final defence witness.

Saravanan, the Forensic Medicine Unit head at Seri Manjung Hospital in Perak, also refuted claims by the plaintiff’s lawyer, Latheefa Koya, that he lacked qualifications in forensic pathology.

“I have extensive experience managing autopsy cases at the hospital,” the witness said.

Judge Idah Ismail later set Nov 28 for the verdict on the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit filed on May 19, 2021, Soosaimanicckam’s family alleged that the defendants were negligent by failing to provide emergency medical treatment when the victim collapsed and by not properly monitoring his health during the training session.

On July 29, the High Court ruled that Soosaimanicckam’s death was a homicide, attributing it directly to the actions of navy officers responsible for cadet training, who denied him medical treatment.

- Bernama

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