Pathologist retracts all ‘opinions’ in Ivana Smit inquest
Dr Zunaizah Hilmi says she is withdrawing all opinion-based statements given so far after being accused of deflecting questions to another expert.
Pathologist Dr Zunaizah Hilmi who conducted the post-mortem on Dutch model Ivana Smit.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Coroner’s Court here will strike off the record of all “opinion-based” statements from the pathologist who conducted the post-mortem on Dutch model Ivana Smit after she withdrew all such statements made throughout her three-day testimony.
Dr Zunaizah Hilmi decided to retract her statements today after a round of questioning by SN Nair, the lawyer holding a watching brief for Smit’s family, where she deferred answering his questions at least three times.
Nair had asked Zunaizah about rigor mortis, the medical term used to describe the stiffness of the muscles shortly after death. He asked why she had not mentioned this so far in her testimony on Smit’s case.
Zunaizah replied that there were many factors at play for rigor mortis to take place but did not comment further. When asked what these factors were and whether she was sure what rigor mortis was, Zunaizah said she could only explain what was listed in her post-mortem report.
“But I ask that questions like this that require me to provide my opinions be referred to my colleague, an expert pathologist who was there with me when we conducted the post-mortem,” she added.
Later, when Nair asked Zunaizah whether she had detected rigor mortis in Smit’s body during the autopsy, the pathologist again declined to answer, asking that he direct the question to her colleague instead.
However, Nair reminded Zunaizah that it was she who had been giving her expert opinion so far, not her colleague.
“You have been giving your opinion in this court during our examination of you.
“I’m asking for the facts – can’t you answer this?” he said.
To this, Zunaizah reiterated that she could only provide answers based on what was included in her post-mortem report and told Nair to ask her colleague instead.
Nair then told her that she had been giving her opinion so far in her testimony, adding that she should retract similar opinion-based statements if she no longer wished to do so.
Zunaizah subsequently agreed to retract parts of her testimony.
“I would like to withdraw all opinion-based testimony that I gave in this court,” she said.
Today is the ninth day of the inquest into Smit’s death on Dec 7 last year.
Smit was found sprawled in the nude on a sixth-floor balcony at CapSquare Residences, off Jalan Dang Wangi in Kuala Lumpur.
She is believed to have fallen from a 20th-floor condominium unit belonging to an American-Kazakh couple just after 1pm that afternoon.
Police originally classified the case as sudden death, but it was re-opened this year after pressure from Smit’s family who claimed there were elements of foul play and a cover-up.
The inquest is to determine how Smit had died and whether there is enough evidence to take the case to trial.
Zunaizah was the 15th witness to testify. The inquest continues later today.