SHAH ALAM: The Coroners Court today ruled that a senior federal counsel would be allowed to attend and make submissions at a hearing on Aug 21 for a committal order application filed by deceased fireman Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim’s father against the Attorney-General.
Coroner Rofiah Mohamad made the decision after hearing submissions on the matter from both, lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla who is representing Muhammad Adib’s family, and senior federal counsel S. Narkunavathy.
When announcing her decision, the coroner said the counsel could attend the hearing and express her opposition to the ex parte application made by Muhammad Adib’s father for a committal order against Attorney-General Tommy Thomas (pix) for allegedly insulting the court through the filing of an affidavit by the AG’s Chambers on April 3 which indicated that Muhammad Adib’s death was not caused by injuries sustained.
The affidavit had been filed while the inquest into the cause of death of Muhammad Adib, was still underway - the inquest which involved 41 days of hearings, began on Feb 11 and came to a close on July 24 with no date set for a decision.
Muhammad Adib, 24, died on Dec 17 after sustaining critical injuries on Nov 27 when he and his team members from the Subang Jaya fire station responded to an emergency call concerning a riot that was taking place at the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman Temple.
Rofiah also said today that the court would not refer to two prior affidavits filed by the AG’s Chambers and then deputy public prosecutor Hamdan Hamzah.
The application for a committal order against the Attorney-General was filed on July 16 by Muhammad Adib’s father Mohd Kassim Abdul Hamid, 64, through the law firm Mohd Zubir Embong & Associates.
On July 24, in his response to the committal order application, Thomas had said that his office had never ordered former DPP Hamdan to file an affidavit at the Court of Appeal concerning the cause of death of Muhammad Adib.
At today’s proceedings, Narkunavathy said a committal order should be viewed seriously as its possible sentences included a jail term, while Mohamed Haniff Khatri submitted that the application was not aimed at jailing the attorney-general but to seek an apology from Thomas to the court and the family.
The lawyer also said that during an inquest proceeding, no party was allowed to take a position until the proceeding was over.
When met by reporters outside the court, Mohamed Haniff repeated his call for the Attorney-General to issue an apology. — Bernama
