PRETORIA, July ( ANA ) – The second forensic pathologist testifying during the second of the inquest into the death of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol on Wednesday told the North Gauteng High Court that it was highly unlikely that he could have jumped out of a window unless assisted.
DR Steve Naidoo said Timol had serious injuries on the ankle and swelling which would have made it impossible for him to walk without assistance.
“He wouldn’t have been able to walk and squeeze himself, and dive through the window unassisted, especially with the severe calf injury.”
Naidoo, who has more than 30 years experience, analysed the original post-mortem report conducted on Timol after his death in 1971. It ruled that Timol had killed himself by jumping from a window at John Vorster Square police station in Johannesburg where he was detained.
He told the court that the post-mortem report was inadequate, no proper measurements of wounds we conducted and there were no X-rays.
Earlier, a senior specialist in pathologist services, DR Shakeera Holland, who has performed more than 5,000 post-mortems, told the court that Timol had several injuries which were not consistent with the fall from a height.
Both Holland and Naidoo said based on their medical expertise and after studying his injuries, they too, did not believe that the young activist and school teacher had committed suicide, as claimed by the apartheid regime.
Holland said Timol had further multiple injuries which might have been inflicted four to six days before his death
She listed facial fractures which appeared to be isolated and not directly associated with the fractures at the base of his skull.
Naidoo said of the 35 listed injuries which Timol had suffered, only about 10 were fall related.
The rest were injuries across his body on areas which would not have been impacted by the fall. He attributed these injuries to blunt force trauma meted out before the fall.
The massive blow to his skull would have either rendered him in a coma or in and out of consciousness. He would have been incapacitated and certainly not been able to sit up, let alone walk, Naidoo said.
The expert testified that he visited the notorious interrogation room 1026 at the police station, which is now known as Johannesburg Central police station, this week. It is a space of two by eight metres big.
The window is situated several centimeters above the ground and it would take some effort to get to it, let alone throwing oneself out of it.
Naidoo said in his opinion Timol, in the state he was in, would certainly not have been able to do so.
The inquest proceeds on Thursday.
– African News Agency (ANA)
