Minister says govt will provide justice for firefighter Adib’s family

BALING, Dec 20 — The government has assured that it will take appropriate action to provide justice to the family of firefighter, the late Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law), Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan

He said, the Attorney General’s Chambers was waiting for the results of the police investigation which is understood to be in the final stage.

“An inquest was held in court, the coroner or judge hearing the inquest made a verdict that the cause of death was due to criminal action by two or more unknown persons,” he told reporters after a meeting with the mayor and Yang Dipetua of local authorities in Kedah here, today.

“Due to the verdict by the coroner, the prosecutor could not charge anyone because the perpetrator of the crime needed to be identified. So because the verdict says an unknown person hence the prosecution could not take any action.

“... I understand that the Attorney General’s Chambers has asked the police to conduct further investigations and I understand that the police have also proposed a new inquest, but so far there has been no new inquest,” he said.

Takiyuddin said this while commenting on the disappointment of Muhammad Adib’s family with the proposal to hold another inquest into the death of the firefighter because they had been patient too long to get justice.

Muhammad Adib, 24, who was a member of the Emergency Medical Rescue Services unit from the Subang Jaya Fire and Rescue Station died on December 17, 2018 from serious injuries he sustained during a riot at the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in USJ 25, Subang Jaya on November 27, the same year.

On September 27 last year, the Shah Alam Coroner’s Court ruled that the fireman’s death was the result of a crime committed by more than two or three unknown persons.

Meanwhile, Takiyuddin said, a new building of the court complex which houses the Sessions Court and the Magistrate’s Court will be built in Sik with an allocation of RM30 million to replace the existing dilapidated old building. The new court complex is expected to be completed by 2022.

“The court building in Sik, which was built in the 1950s, is quite old. We have identified 1.2 hectares of land in Sik, and with the construction of this new building we hope to speed up the case management in Sik,” he said. — Bernama