Consultant forensic specialist Dr Nurliza Abdullah told Coroner Mahyon Talib that blood had collected in the chest cavity, showing it had flowed out from the thoracic vessel that was nearly torn apart.

“She was still alive because of the pumping of the heart and the circulation of blood in the system.”

Nurliza, who supervised Smit’s post-mortem last December at Hospital Kuala Lumpur’s morgue, was the 21st witness to take the stand in the inquest.

Asked by deputy public prosecutor N Joy Jothi the time of Smit’s death, Nurliza said the post-mortem was conducted within 24 hours, putting her death at around noon on Dec 7.

Nurliza, 53, said rigor mortis, or the process when the corpse begins to stiffen upon death, took place 12 to 18 hours before the autopsy was done. But she rubbished Jothi’s conclusion that the time of death could be shortened from 24 hours to at least 12 hours prior to the post-mortem.

“That doesn’t give a right estimation because the corpse was put in the freezer (before the post-mortem was carried out).

“That is another external factor that influences rigor mortis,” she said, citing the amount of fat, the deceased’s temperature and presence of clothes as other factors.

Smit, 18, fell on the afternoon of Dec 7 last year from the 20th-floor of a condo unit at Capsquare Residence, off Jalan Dang Wangi, belonging to American-Kazakh couple Alex Johnson and Luna Almaz, whom she had befriended at the time.

She was found sprawled in the nude on a balcony on the 6th-floor later that day by the occupant when he returned home.

Two pathologists previously testified as to how Smit had died. Dutch native Dr Frank van de Goot told the court there was a chance she was dead well before she fell from the 20th-floor unit while Dr Zunaizah Hilmi, Nurliza’s junior, testified Smit died because of blunt-force trauma due to falling.

Asked by Jothi if Smit, “who doesn’t seem to be fat” and was found in the nude, could have had rigor mortis much earlier such as within six to eight hours of dying, the general duration for it to kick in, Nurliza said “specific body parts” could “maybe” have undergone post-mortem rigidity first.

Nurliza said even though the body was placed in ice, decomposition still carried on, albeit much slower than usual. Given the delay in starting the autopsy and not having known the corpse’s temperature to start with, she said she could not give a precise figure.

She added Smit had not died an instantaneous death and there was a “big possibility” the overall 81 injuries, bruises and abrasions to her body were caused by the impact of the fall. Nurliza had earlier today testified Smit died because of blunt force trauma to her chest and pelvic region, consistent with falling from a height.

Smit’s body, covered in debris, plastic and wooden blinds, was discovered by an occupant when he came home on Dec 7. He contacted the building management, who then called the cops, sparking an international frenzy. The case was initially deemed as an accident.

Today is the 16th day of the inquest, which is underway to determine the facts and events leading up to Smit’s sudden death and whether there is enough evidence to reopen the case and later bring it to trial here.

Nurliza will continue giving testimony next week.

Nurliza’s testimony today echoes that of Zunaizah, who has since retracted all “opinion-based” input to the court. Part of this includes her view that Smit died due to blunt-force trauma.

Like Nurliza, Zunaizah had testified finding Smit’s descending thoracic aorta in the chest cavity “nearly torn” when conducting the post-mortem. She said her heart was still able to pump blood to keep Smit alive as she found the artery was red in colour, indicative that the proteins in the blood were still actively reacting.

Previous witnesses had testified hearing a bottle crash from the 20th-floor condo after Smit’s body was discovered. Both the prosecution and the watching brief lawyer, SN Nair, have been trying to determine if Smit was knocked out cold before she died as empty bottles had also been found in the 20th-floor unit that day.

Police originally classified the case as sudden death, but it was re-opened this year after pressure from Smit’s family, who claimed there were elements of foul play and a cover-up. They claim Smit had already died before falling and had hired pathologist van de Goot to prove that narrative.

The inquest continues on Monday.