SHAH ALAM: The High Court here today allowed an appeal by Attorney-General (AG) Tan Sri Tommy Thomas to set aside a committal proceeding filed against him by the father of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim (pix).
Judge Datuk Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid, in his judgment, said the Coroner’s Court had erred in allowing the application by Mohd Kassim Abdul Hamid to initiate committal proceeding against the AG.
He said Mohd Kassim, in his application, failed to draw the coroner’s attention to a media statement issued by the Attorney-General on May 28, 2019 as a whole.
The coroner only took into account certain paragraphs in the media statement, especially regarding the role of lawyer Syazlin Mansor, who at that time was holding a watching brief for the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Fire and Rescue Department and Muhammad Adib’s family, he added.
Mohd Kassim filed an ex-parte application for a committal order against the AG on July 16 last year for allegedly insulting the court through the filing of an affidavit by the AG’s Chambers on April 3 on the firefighter’s death.
The affidavit was filed while the inquest into the cause of Muhammad Adib’s death was still underway. The inquest which involved 41 days of hearings, began on Feb 11 last year and came to a close on July 24.
Muhammad Adib was seriously injured in a riot at the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, Subang Jaya, last year. He died on Dec 17, after 21 days at the National Heart Institute.
Last Sept 29, the Coroner’s Court established that Muhammad Adib died after he was assaulted by two or three unidentified people during the riot.
Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, representing Mohd Kassim, when met by reporters later, said his client would appeal against today’s decision. — Bernama
