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Published: Thursday May 9, 2013 MYT 9:36:00 PM
Updated: Thursday May 9, 2013 MYT 10:30:21 PM

Three possible causes of William Yau's death

By MAIZATUL NAZLINA


PETALING JAYA: There were three possibilities which caused the death of six-year-old William Yau Zhen Zhong who went missing in Putra Heights on Jan 16, a Coroner's Court was told.

Pathologist Dr Nur Ayutimasery Abdullah, 38, said firstly, the boy could have been hit by a strong force on the head and died.

Secondly, he could have fallen into a drain filled with water and fractured his skull and died; and thirdly he fell into the drain, knocked his head and died.

To a question by DPP Lee Keng Fatt on the possibility that the boy drowned, Dr Nur Ayutimasery said: "No."

Dr Nur Ayutimasery from Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang, explained that a person who died due to drowning would have its lungs filled with water and there would be foam in the respiratory tract which came out from the nose and mouth.

"In this case, I did not find any of these symptoms as the body had decomposed," she said adding that she conducted an autopsy on the body on Jan 25.

She said the boy died a week before the post-mortem was conducted.

Dr Nur Ayutimasery was giving her testimony in the inquest into the death of the boy who was found dead at the Kampung Sungai Sireh jetty in Port Klang on Jan 24, eight days after he was reported missing in Jalan Putra Mahkota, Putra Heights.

William's father Yau Kok Kang and his mother Goh Ying Ying had gone to an electrical shop on that day to buy a washing machine, leaving William and his two other siblings in the car.

Explaining on what she meant by "animal activities" in her post-mortem report, Dr Nur Ayutimasery said when a body was abandoned especially outside the house, predators would come and eat the body and lay eggs. She said signs of animal activities were traced on the deceased's buttock, right forehead, scalp, left calf and neck; and fractures on his skull and right rib cage.

Asked whether she agreed that the cause of the fracture on the skull was due to blunt force trauma, she replied, "Yes, I agree."

She also said there was no possibility of William Yau having been abused.

Questioned by Coroner Mohd Hezri Shaharil on scratch marks found on the deceased body, she said from the shape of the marks, it could have been caused by the paws of cats or dogs.

The inquest continues on Monday.

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