IPOH: No statement was taken by the investigation officer from the brother of the late cadet officer J. Soosaimanicckam (pic), despite evidence of injuries leading to his death, a Coroner’s Court here heard.
Civil servant Calvin Joseph, 35, said his brother’s body had bruises, lacerations and other injuries, but despite that, the officer told him that there were no criminal elements involved.
Calvin said the officer only called one out of the seven witnesses who had been seeing what was going on during the training sessions, and that also took a brief statement by just allowing the witness to answer “Yes” or ‘’No”.
“I found two pink slips in my late brother’s shorts, which were request slips to see a doctor that were rejected by the navy officers.
“I had informed the IO (Investigation Officer) about it, but he never called me back on that.
“Based on the evidence we found, we filed a total of four police reports that were never looked into.
“We believe that my brother was abused, which led to his death.
“The IO said in court that he didn’t know about the slips asking to see a doctor, but I told him, and when he didn’t come to see me, I filed a report saying that I have the slips in my hands,” he told Sessions Court judge Ainul Shahrin Mohamad, who was the coroner at the inquest.
The inquest seeks to find out the cause of Soosaimanicckam’s death during his training at the naval base on May 19, 2018, a week after reporting for duty on May 12.
Soosaimanicckam was pronounced dead at the Lumut Armed Forces Hospital.
Mahajoth Singh and Zaid Abd Malek of Lawyers for Liberty are representing Soosaimanicckam’s family, while Evangelin Simon Silvaraj is acting for the government.
Lawyer Cheang Lek Choy is holding a watching brief for the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).
Calvin said the navy officers had told his family that the post-mortem could only be carried out the next day, as the doctor at the Seri Manjung hospital only worked during office hours.
He said the next day, when he met with the doctor and informed him about the injuries on the body of the deceased, the doctor said that was normal due to the training.
“It was definitely not normal; the injuries were bad, like someone had a nasty fall from a motorcycle,” he said.
“While we waited outside the doctor’s room for the post-mortem to be over, a few high-ranking navy officers went to see the doctor.
“Once the post-mortem was concluded, and when we went to see the doctor again, he looked nervous, , and was sweating before telling us that the cause of death was due to water in the lungs.
“My brother was as fit as a fiddle before joining the training, as certified by a full medical report from a government hospital, as well as from the physical tests carried out at the navy headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.”
Calvin added that as soon as his brother started proper training, he died within a week. And the reason for his death was said to be due to water in the lungs.
He added that the navy hospital doctors were the first responders, stating that his kidneys failed due to leptospirosis.
“My question is whether the seven other trainees (who left the navy as they were deemed unfit after suffering from the effects of leptospirosis) also drank the same water, the source of which was a tank with a dead rat, but they are all alive.
“Some had to undergo dialysis, but why is it that my brother died?
“This happened because my brother was bullied, beaten, and given excessive punishment compared to the rest without being allowed to seek medical treatment despite several attempts at asking for permission to do so.
“Some of the trainees who left the service had already elaborated on how my brother was beaten, bullied and punished for the slightest mistake,” he said.
The hearing continues on March 30.
