Dr Siew Sheue Feng of Kuala Lumpur Hospital said a post-mortem examination showed no soot injury or soot inflation; such conditions showed that the victim did not breath in hot air.

“Looks like he (the deceased) already died before the onset of the fire,” said Siew, the 46th prosecution witness in the trial of Nazrin’s widow, Samirah Muzaffar, 46, two teenagers and an Indonesian woman still at large who are accused of Nazrin’s murder.

Siew, who conducted the post-mortem on Nazrin, said there was no evidence of laryngeal inhalation injury or soot in the trachea and deeper air passage of the victim.

Siew, who has performed more than 2,000 post-mortems, also listed 16 marks of injury that were found on Nazrin’s body.

They included a penetrating wound measuring 5x4cm at the left parietal region, penetrating wound measuring 2x1cm at the right side of the central forehead and penetrating wound measuring 2×1.5cm at the upper half of the front of neck.

The witness also showed and explained more than 100 photographs taken during the post-mortem, during which Nazrin’s sister who was in the courtroom was heard weeping.

The trial before Judge Ab Karim Ab Rahman continues tomorrow.