Forensic expert: Teoh could have been dragged (the Sun)

SHAH ALAM (Aug 13, 2009) : A police forensic expert says political aide Teoh Beng Hock, 30, could have been dragged before his body was found sprawled on Plaza Masalam's 5th floor lobby.

Chief Insp Mazli Jusoh, 31, from the Selangor police headquarters' forensic branch, told the inquest into Teoh's death that the dragging was possible after being shown photos of scratches found on the sole of Teoh's right shoe.

Asked by Selangor state government counsel Malik Imtiaz Sarwar whether it was possible that Teoh could have been dragged:

Mazli: No, because normally if a person is being dragged from behind, he would resist with his heels. It would not affect the sole of the shoe.

Malik: Would it be possible if he was dragged from the side?

Mazli: It would.

Mazli then told the court that the white, chalky scratch marks which exposed the sole were not a foreign material but part of the cloth that held the sole to the shoe, adding that he was unable to find a missing portion of the front sole of the shoe despite looking for it.

"I searched the 14th floor near the window frame, and also on the fifth floor, and the areas below it, including a flower bed of red flowers and a parking lot below, but I couldn't find the missing piece," said Mazli.

Shahrul Othman

He said no test was done on the chalky white substance found on the shoe and that a fingerprint test had failed to turn up any prints on a window frame on the 14th floor.

When questioned by Bar Council's Richard Wee, Mazli, who is the inquest's 13th witness, said it was possible for a person to step through the window, which was 0.6m-wide and 0.9m in height, adding that an examination of the building outside the window found no sharp protrusions which could have torn Teoh's pants as he fell.

Wee: Is it possible to step out the window?

Mazli: Yes.

Wee: You said his pants were torn. Did you see anything that could have snagged his pants?

Mazli: No, I saw nothing. It looked smooth ...

Asked if further test was conducted, Mazli said he had taken swabs from a stain found on the window, and from the sofa on which Teoh had rested, but he had not done any polylight testing of the sofa, or the spot on the fifth floor where Teoh's body was found.

Mazli said he had not done any testing for fingerprints on Teoh's clothing, body or belt.

Witness number No.14, DSP Shahrul Othman Mansor, who is with Bukit Aman's Cheras forensic laboratory, told the inquest he found a footprint on the floor below the same window when he conducted further checks of the Selangor MACC's office three days after the incident.

Shahrul said he found faint trace of a shoe print measuring nine inches on the inner ledge of the window, and that he ordered a photograph taken of the print.

Mazli Jusoh

However, when questioned further by Selangor state government's counsel Sreekant Pillai, Shahrul said there was a possibility of contamination, as he had conducted his forensic examination three days after the incident.

Shahrul said he did not dust the window for prints as the investigating officer ASP Ahmad Nazri informed that such work had already been done by Selangor forensics.

He added that an inspection of the walls around the window turned up no evidence of a scuffle or fight that could be linked to Teoh's death, and said the only damage he found at the window was a broken handle and a screw.

"I found the window unlocked because the locking mechanism was broken, what was left was only the base of the lock. There was also marks of a newly-broken screw," said Shahrul.

Hearing continues tomorrow.