Shooting death was ‘misadventure’, court rules

AMPANG: The magistrate's court today ruled the death of Dinesh Darmasena, 26, who was shot by police about two years ago, as a "misadventure" due the gunshot wound in the head.

Magistrate Noor Farah Hazwani Osman, acting as coroner in the inquest, said the findings could not ascertain which policeman shot Dinesh due to failure in matching the bullets to its shells and the pistol from which they were fired.
"The court is of the opinion that the verdict of the inquest is misadventure due to gunshot wound of the head," she said.
Noor Farah said according to the statement of ASP Jaswent Singh, Dinesh had allegedly tried to attack Corporal Thamu, who wanted to get out of a car, adding that at that time Constable Ganesh had released a "double tap" and Jaswent saw Dinesh fall to the ground.
She also said that according to the testimony of ASP Burhanuddin, the police could not ascertain from which pistol the bullet was fired, causing the death of Dinesh.
She added that ASP Fon Thiam Seong had stated that the police could not determine who actually fired the shot due to the failure to match the bullet and its shell by forensics.
Based on the facts of the case and the witnesses' statements, she concluded that it could not be ascertained that the death of Dinesh was caused by the shots fired by constable Jeganeshwaran or otherwise.
She said that according to pathologist Dr Nurhaliza Abdullah, the cause of death was due to a gunshot wound to the head of the victim.
On Aug 21, 2012, Dinesh was shot by the police in Ampang when he was travelling in a car in the wee hours of the morning. He died two days later at the Ampang Hospital.
A post-mortem at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital showed that he was shot twice, on his right arm and the back of his head.