Pretoria - Ahmed Timol suffered a massive depressed skull fracture which was not consistent with an injury due to the fall. This would in have in all probability rendered him in an out of consciousness or totally unconscious.
He would thus not have been able to jump out of the window, two forensic pathologists who took the stand on Wednesday testified.
Dr Shakeera Holland and Professor Steve Naidoo both came to the same findings after studying the 1971 post mortem reports following Timol’s death that year.
Naidoo, however, made an additional finding that Timol had suffered a massive lower leg fracture which would have made it basically impossible for him to walk, let alone climb onto a ledge to reach the window from which he had fallen.
This injury, he said, could have been caused by something like a iron rod.
The pair testified in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, during the second leg of the inquest into Timol’s death.
A magistrate during the 1970’s agreed with the security police at the time that Timol had committed suicide.
His family and friends never believed this and asked for the inquest to be opened 46 years later.
Both Holland and Naidoo said based on their medical expertise and after studying his injuries, they too, do not believe it was suicide.
Naidoo said of the 35 injuries listed 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 this week. It is a tiny room of 2 by 8 meters 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.