A Taiping prison officer has admitted to neglecting the condition of an inmate who later died following a relocation exercise in January, saying he prioritised placing other inmates into cells instead of helping the man, who was visibly sick.
Zaiful Mashadi Zainal Abidin, a sergeant, told a Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) inquiry here that he saw the inmate, Gan Ching Eng, walking unsteadily in Block E before collapsing.
However, Zaiful said he neither checked on Gan nor rendered any assistance and instead continued helping to relocate the rest of the inmates into their cells.
Zaiful also admitted that he had no emergency medical training to deal with the situation.
He later acknowledged that he should have prioritised injured detainees and agreed that his failure to do so amounted to negligence.
“I wrongly assumed he had only been pepper sprayed,” he said. He did not speak to Gan or check his breathing, and only realised the seriousness of the situation about 20 minutes later.
Zaiful said he eventually instructed two inmates to carry Gan to the main gate by his arms and legs – a move that violated standard operating procedures (SOPs).
SOP dictates that only officers may handle prisoners and only with a stretcher. However, no stretcher was available at Block E at that point in time.
Another officer stationed at Block E, Azhari Edris, also a sergeant, denied any negligence but admitted he made some wrong assumptions about Gan’s condition.
Azhari said he saw Gan lying on the floor, being fanned by two other inmates, and was told Gan was “tired”.
He asked Gan what was wrong but received no reply. He then assumed Gan was having breathing difficulties, possibly from asthma, but did not call for medical assistance.
He said he continued placing other inmates into their cells, believing that Gan was not in critical condition. “He was still breathing, though weakly,” he said.
Azhari also claimed that Zaiful had told him he had informed another officer about Gan needing medical attention, so he did not follow up. However, Azhari later admitted that he never saw anyone actually attend to Gan.
He acknowledged that he did not properly assess Gan’s condition, stating that his belief the inmate was merely exhausted was based on assumption. “I only took a quick glance at him,” he said.
When asked whether Gan’s condition should have taken priority, Azhari agreed that it should have, and said he would have acted differently if it had been a family member in distress.
The Suhakam inquiry is investigating allegations that more than 100 inmates were assaulted by around 60 prison wardens during a relocation exercise from Hall B to Block E of Taiping prison on Jan 17.
The inquiry, chaired by Suhakam chairman Hishamudin Yunus and commissioner Farah Nini Dusuki, is also examining claims that one inmate died and several others were injured as a result of the alleged abuse.
The inquiry continues.
