The family of fireman Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim want Attorney-General Tommy Thomas to apologise if he is in contempt of court, said their lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla.
According to Haniff, Adib’s family has no intention of seeking a court order for Thomas to be imprisoned.
The Coroner’s Court in Shah Alam was informed about this today.
“We explained to the court very clearly that the request made by Adib’s family, if permitted by the court as contempt, that they have no intention to seek an order to put the attorney-general in prison.
“What is important is that if the court rules that he is found guilty of contempt, we’ll try to get him to apologise to the court as well as to Adib’s family, and promise that the incident will not reoccur,” Haniff told the media today.
Last month, Haniff filed an ex parte application on behalf of the family to cite Thomas for contempt of court.
Coroner Rofiah Mohamad fixed August 21 to hear the ex parte leave application for committal proceedings against the attorney-general.
Thomas was represented by senior federal counsel S Narkunavathy.
The application concerns an affidavit from the attorney-general stating that Adib did not die from injuries sustained from an alleged assault during the riots at the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman Temple last November.
Earlier, Haniff raised two issues in court – on whether Thomas could object during the ex parte hearing and the extent to which he can do so, and another with regard to whether the affidavit could be used during the hearing.
Rofiah ruled that the affidavit cannot be used in court, and that the senior federal counsel will only be present during the hearing to assist with legal issues.
“We will need to convince the court that there’s a case, and for the court to allow us to proceed with subsequent legal process,” the lawyer said.
Commenting on the alleged contempt, Haniff said that Thomas had issued statements on lawyer Syazlin Mansor, who had represented the Housing and Local Government Ministry and the Fire and Rescue Department for the inquest, and later Adib’s family.
“In that particular statement, there were reasons given by him that her conduct during proceedings contradicted the stance of the attorney-general. That statement amounts to contempt.
“In an inquest proceeding, nobody had the right to take a stance until the inquest finishes.
“You cannot have a stance on one hand, and on the other, ask the court to make a decision,” he said.
Haniff reiterated that the ex parte application has nothing to do with the result of the inquest.
“Let the coroner of the inquest makes her decision. This (the application) has nothing to do with the future decision.”
Adib, a member of the Subang Jaya Fire and Rescue Department’s Emergency Medical Rescue Service (EMRS), was seriously injured during the Seafield Temple riots on Nov 27 last year.
He died on Dec 17 at the National Heart Institute in Kuala Lumpur. The inquest was held to determine the cause of his death.