Sarbaini inquest: Coroner makes site visit to MACC building

Coroner Aizatul Akmal Maharani and the others involved in the Sarbaini inquest made a site-visit to the Malaysian Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) building at Jalan Cochrane on Tuesday.

The site-visit, which began at about 10am on the second day of the inquest, saw the coroner, lawyers and Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamed's wife, Maziah Manap, 50, and other family members, escorted upstairs to the third floor where Ahmad Sarbaini was last seen alive on April 6, this year.

Aizatul arriving at the MACC building in Jalan Cochrane on Tuesday

The media was not allowed up and was asked to wait at the lobby.

Speaking to reporters after the hour-long site-visit, counsel for the family members, Awtar Singh said the group went to see the badminton court where the deceased's body was found, the pantry, the room in which Ahmad Sarbani was interrogated and the surau.

He said he also did a "demonstration", where he tried putting his leg over the pantry window sill without leaning on the nearby sink.

"It was not easy," he said.

MACC lawyer Datuk Seri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah also spoke to reporters, saying the site-visit was significant as the inquest had previously only been able to rely on photographs, which did not give a "3D idea of how things happened".

"What everybody agreed though, is that from the pantry window, the roof to the left looks so near that you think you can jump on to it. But it's an optical illusion.

"The roof is about 3m (10ft) away, but you'll only realise this when you're already out of the window, by which time it might already be too late," Muhammad Shafee said.

He added that the inquest also went into the CCTV room, which showed all the CCTVs working.

"It's working now, but it may not have been working around that time (of the incident)," he said.

When asked if he would be calling Maziah to the stand again to be questioned by him, he said that there was no need for it at this point in time.

Also present at the site were deputy public prosecutors Mohamad Abazafree Mohd Abbas, Hanim Mohd Rashid, Azlina Rasdi and Nor Amalina Ismail, who were assisting the court with the inquest.

Ahmad Sarbaini, 56, who was attached to the Port Klang Customs office, was found dead at the badminton court on the first floor of the MACC building on April 6.

He was reported to have gone to the commission's office to meet the investigation officer assigned to corruption cases involving 62 customs officers.

The inquest continues Wednesday.

Source : The Star

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