Doctor's death inquest: Court sets aside coroner's decision to eject lawyer from hearing

The Shah Alam High Court has set aside coroner Rasyihah Ghazali’s May 7 decision to eject lawyer Zaid Malek from ongoing inquest proceedings on the death of Dr Shintumathi Mutusamy, who died under suspicious circumstances nearly three years ago.

Judge Noor Hisham Ismail, in his decision on Zaid’s revision application, said the inquest proceedings records showed that the ejection was made without reasonable justification.

Hisham also said the coroner was wrong when she ordered parties to discuss matters involving document disclosure, as she should have been specific on whether or not the requesting party was allowed access to the documents.

“The coroner is hereby ordered to re-hear the applicant’s (Zaid) application to obtain any document requested and to decide, as to whether to grant the disclosure of the documents or not.

“The court also lifted the suspension on the inquest proceedings, and directs it to continue on the dates scheduled,” he ruled after hearing submissions from all parties today.

Zaid was previously ejected on the first day of the inquest proceedings, after the coroner’s abrupt order to eject him following his repeated attempts to clarify if lawyers for Shintumathi’s family were being denied access to documents.

Security personnel escorted Zaid out of the courtroom, prompting his other co-counsels, Mahajoth Singh, P Purshotaman, and Reenajit Kaur Golen, to stage a walkout.

The inquest proceedings continued without their presence, with deputy public prosecutor Rinisha Priyya Kuna Sakar acting as the conducting officer.

The lawyers then filed a revision against Rasyihah’s order, which resulted in today’s decision.

Earlier, the court was informed that the coroner has fixed Aug 17 to 20 to resume the hearing.

Suspicious, unnatural death

Shintumathi was found dead in her room at a condominium complex in Petaling Jaya on Oct 8, 2023.

In October last year, Malaysiakini reported that the Coroner’s Court agreed to begin an inquest into Shintumathi’s death, following 28 police reports and multiple appeals to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

According to a post-mortem, Shintumathi was determined to have died due to “inhalation asphyxia by compressed gas and plastic bag”.

However, in a letter to Attorney-General Dusuki Mokhtar dated Sept 3 last year, Mahajoth noted that the medical officer who performed the autopsy had stated in a separate document that Shintumathi’s death was under suspicious and unnatural circumstances.

Based on a timeline of events detailed in the letter that Malaysiakini sighted, various attempts had been made to seek justice for Shintumathi, who co-owned a clinic with another doctor before her death.

Shintumathi’s mother Vijayletchimi Tambi had also claimed that there was blood and an unidentified yellow liquid at the scene, but investigating officers did not collect any of the substances for further analysis to determine if there were other individuals involved.

She also alleged that police had failed to send two blood-stained mattresses for DNA tests and only secured CCTV footage from the day after Shintumathi’s death while ignoring recordings from earlier days.

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