SHAH ALAM, May 24 — The family of the late Mohamad Johari Abu Bakar has accused a government pathologist of failing to consult and inform them of the first post-mortem done on the 17-year-old on May 13.

Dr Abdul Karim Tajuddin, a government pathologist in Hospital Serdang, conducted a post-mortem on the teenager after he was shot dead by police two weeks ago.

The family now wants a second post-mortem conducted, saying that they had “no confidence” in Dr Abdul Karim and were clueless as to the results of the first post-mortem. They have filed a court application on the matter.

“We don’t know because Dr Karim failed to respond to our queries. Failure by hospital and police to consult and inform family on first post-mortem also gives us no confidence, we must get second opinion before body is buried,” the family’s lawyer N. Surendran told The Malaysian Insider.

The High Court has agreed to hear the application tomorrow morning.

According to Surendran, Dr Abdul Karim was also responsible for conducting a post-mortem on A. Kugan, who was found dead while under police custody.

“I have filed a complaint about him to the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) but the matter is still pending… the family has no confidence in the post-mortem report,” said the lawyer.

Johari’s body is currently at the Serdang Hospital. His family wants the examination conducted at Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, and wants an external qualified observer also to be present during the post-mortem.

“The body has been in Serdang Hospital for 10 days, since May 13. The family wants matters to be expedited so that he can be buried,” said another family lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri.

Johari’s family members, including his mother, grandmother and two brothers, lodged a police report on the incident at the Damansara police station on May 15, seeking an independent investigation into the boy’s death and calling for a second post-mortem.

Johari, a school dropout who became an odd-job worker, was killed in a shootout with the police behind a budget hotel at the Cyber Valley Commercial Centre, Dengkil, at about 10.30pm on May 13.

According to the police, the youth was believed to have been hiding in the hotel with four other suspects after they allegedly stole a Toyota Alphard near Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya, on May 10.

He was purportedly gunned down after he opened fire at the cops when he was ambushed outside the hotel.

Johari’s family members are however questioning the circumstances surrounding the boy’s fatal shooting, accusing the police of giving inconsistent accounts of the incident.

They have also complained of “suspicious” signs of assault seen on Johari’s body, like a broken right arm.

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
May 24, 2011

www.malaysiansider.com