PETALING JAYA: The Ipoh High Court has set aside the open verdict issued by the coroner’s court inquiring into the death of former naval cadet officer J Soosaimanicckam, replacing it with a finding of homicide.
In coming to this decision, Justice Abdul Wahab Mohamed said the coroner’s verdict displayed a limited appreciation of the evidence adduced during the inquest.
He said the evidence pointed to pulmonary edema caused by leptospirosis, normally associated with the consumption of food and water infected with the leptospira bacteria found in rat urine.
He also ruled that Soosaimanicckam’s death – which occurred at the KD Sultan Idris naval base in Lumut, Perak – was a direct consequence of the navy officers in charge of cadet training denying him medical treatment.
With the greatest of respect, the learned coroner took the easy way out (by) coming to an open verdict without considering the evidence before her, said Wahab.
He said that considering all the evidence during the inquest and the coroner’s limited judicial appreciation of them, the court had set aside the open verdict finding and substituted it with homicide.
The open verdict was delivered by the Ipoh coroner’s court last year following the inquest into Soosaimanicckam’s death.
Coroner Ainul Shahrin Mohamad determined the cause of death to be pulmonary edema but said she could not attribute the death to anyone in particular.
The deceased’s father, S Joseph, 71, and brother Charles Joseph, 38, were in court for today’s proceedings.
