Death in Police Custody - he told the Majistrate he was beaten by police...

Another suspect 'killed' or just died in police custody at Petaling Jaya's Damansara Police Station...

The victim had allegedly complained to the Majistrate that the police had beaten him - and what did the Magistrate do? Just record it in his/her notebook - or just pretended to do so. Did the Magistrate ask questions of the victim to get details of the police officers that beat him up, or just did not care? Did the magistrate initiate an investigation - after all would this not have been a complaint to the Magistrate - and the Magistrate could heve done something ....

After the victim with an 'obvious bruised eye', who had made complaints about being beaten by police, what was done? Did the Magistrate order that the victim be sent to the hospital?? [Or not, .....and if not, this death may have been by reason of the negligence of the Magistrate..?]

The man is dead - but why is the police trying to paint a bad picture of the man. Maybe, they are just covering their backs... I say that killing a man is wrong, and it matters not whether he was a good bad or the worst of criminals.

In this case, he is but a suspect ---- and hence the presumption of innocence until proven guilty applies,

'Sudden Death" - what is this? This is what the police have apparently clarified this death. Someone hits you and you die - is that sudden death? Someone beat you, you faint (sleeping beside toilet?), and you die without waking up - is this sudden death?

When met at the mortuary, the wife of the dead man, M. Manimatalai, 40, said she suspected foul play as when she last met him on Friday, he had a bruise on his right eye.

“I saw that he had a black eye. I was also informed that when he was brought before a Petaling Jaya magistrate for a remand order, he had apparently told the magistrate that he was being beaten and mistreated by the police while in custody,” said the saleswoman and mother of six.

CCTV - yes, today, all police lock-ups are monitored by 24-hour CCTV cameras, and the police personnel in charge of the lock-ups sit in front of the monitors monitoring what is happening in all the lock-ups. There is also CCTV monitoring in other parts of the Police Stations. [Unfortunately, they, 'the police', are smart - for these CCTV does not have recording capacity - and so we will, most likely, not be able to re-wind the tape and see some passed out victim (after being beaten by police) being returned and placed beside the toilet...] Is the toilet in the lock-up cell? After all, who sleeps beside the toilet?

A suspected thief was found dead in a police lock-up after a guard noticed the 53-year-old man lying flat beside the toilet.

The deceased has been identified as A. Gnanapragasam, a wireman who was arrested on June 10 for allegedly breaking into a house in Sungai Buloh in the early hours of the morning.

Petaling Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Arjunaidi Mohamed said the deceased, whose body was found at around 8.05am yesterday, had been placed in a lock-up with four others at the Damansara police station.

The guard, he said, had immediately called the ambulance.

“Initial investigations have ruled out foul play as there were no visible marks or bruises on his body.

“But we will wait for the post mortem results from the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre before determining the cause of death,” he told reporters at the Petaling Jaya police station.

ACP Arjunaidi added that the deceased, who was from Jalan

Ipoh in Kuala Lumpur, had nine criminal records, mostly involving drug-related offences, and had previously been detained at the Simpang Renggam detention centre.

It is learnt that the remand order on Gnanapragasam, who was being investigated under Section 457 of the Penal Code for breaking-in and theft, was expected to end yesterday.

However, ACP Arjunaindi de-clined to reveal if the suspect was to be charged or released or have his remand extended.

Police had interrogated his cellmates, who all claimed to be sleeping at that time.

When met at the mortuary, the wife of the dead man, M. Manimatalai, 40, said she suspected foul play as when she last met him on Friday, he had a bruise on his right eye.

“I saw that he had a black eye. I was also informed that when he was brought before a Petaling Jaya magistrate for a remand order, he had apparently told the magistrate that he was being beaten and mistreated by the police while in custody,” said the saleswoman and mother of six.

However, ACP Arjunaidi urged all parties not to speculate on the case and allow the police to conduct a thorough investigation.

The case is classified as sudden death. - Star, 15/6/2009, Suspected thief found dead in police lock-up