Man missing in Umno building crash was on school run, inquest told

GEORGE TOWN, Sept 2 — Economy rice seller Lim Chin Aik left his home on June 13 to pick up his 13-year-old daughter and never came home, a coroner’s court heard today during the first day of an inquest to ascertain his death.

His wife, Lee Chai Song, who was the first witness on the stand today, related how Lim had left their home at about 6.40pm to pick up their daughter from school in his dark gray Honda City on that fateful day.

“He usually leaves the house at that time to pick up our daughter, sometimes using the motorcycle and sometimes the car, depending on weather conditions, but that day the sky was overcast so he told me that he was taking the car,” she related.

She broke down and sobbed when conducting officer Lim Cheah Yit asked if Lim had brought their daughter home as usual on that day.

“He didn’t pick up our daughter at all that day,” she said before breaking off into sobs.

After a few minutes, she composed herself and said that her daughter had called her at about 7.15pm on that day to say that Lim still had not picked her up.

“I still didn’t suspect anything had happened to him so I told my daughter to wait a while more as he may have been caught in a traffic jam,” she said.

Lee was testifying in an inquest to ascertain the death of her husband who was believed to be buried in Macalister Road after his car was hit by a falling concrete beam during a freak storm on June 13.

In the storm, the lightning arrester of Umno building along the road crashed to the road below, burying Lim’s car underneath and damaging seven other vehicles.

Efforts to recover his body were called off after four days of digging due to concerns that further digging could affect the surrounding buildings so Lim’s body was never recovered.

Only parts of his Honda City were recovered from the crater and the chassis number was matched to that of Lim’s.

The inquest was ordered to ascertain the death of Lim as his body was not recovered and a death certificate could not be issued without proof of his death.

Lee also told the coroner’s court that her daughter called again on that evening to say that Lim never turned up and that a teacher finally sent her daughter home at around 9.30pm.

“By then, I was worried and I tried calling his mobile phone only to find that he had left it at home,” she said.

She also related how she heard people saying that something had happened on Macalister Road and that she still did not suspect anything but assumed that Lim must have been caught in a traffic jam due to the incident.

“I never thought anything could have happened to him as I only thought he was stuck in traffic,” she said.

She also related that by 11pm, she was in a panic and had asked Lim’s younger brother to help search for him along his usual routes and also at the Penang Hospital.

“He couldn’t find him that day and he never came home that night,” she said.

Lee lodged a missing person’s report in the afternoon on the next day after failing to find Lim at any of the hospitals in George Town or to get any information of his whereabouts.

She related how she only suspected the worst when a voluntary patrol member called her to tell her that parts of a car were dug out of the crater in Macalister Road and gave her a chassis number which she checked and found to match that of her husband’s car.

Lee, accompanied by her relatives, immediately went to the site where she saw the car parts that were dug out and recognised them to be of the same colour as her husband’s car.

The five-day inquest continues in the afternoon and a total 31 witnesses will be called in to testify before coroner Khairul Anuar Abd Halim.

Gobind Singh Deo is holding a watching brief on behalf of Lim’s family.

When the inquest continues in the afternoon, a CCTV footage of the concrete beam crashing onto the ground and onto a dark coloured car was played.

Lee told the court that it was the same footage that she had watched online after the incident and that she believed her husband was buried deep in the ground along with parts of the car that was not recovered.

“An engineer at the site told me that the driver side of the car was believed buried underneath the rubble and a large cement block and he explained that the cement block could not be removed during the digging works,”  she said.

She also said that she was sad that the digging works to recover her husband’s body was called off but she had to accept the reasons given.

“I understand that it could endanger the lives of the public and people there so I had to accept their explanations why they had to call off the search for my husband’s body in the crater,” she said.

When asked if she had anything else to add, Lee said she only hoped the court would hasten the process for a death certificate to be issued for Lim’s death.

Lee’s 13-year-old daughter, Lim Hui Juin, was the second witness to take the stand and she confirmed that her father never turned up to pick her up from school on that fateful day.

“The last time I saw my father was in the morning on that day,” she said.

The inquest continues tomorrow.