Inquest into US scientist's death resumes after walkout
A coroner's inquest into the apparent suicide of a US scientist found hanged last year in Singapore resumed Wednesday after a walkout by his family, who insist he was murdered. The case of Shane Todd took a dramatic turn on Tuesday when the late researcher's family announced they would no longer attend public hearings because they had "lost faith" in the process. Singaporean lawyers who assisted the family asked a judge overseeing the inquest to discharge them from the process on Wednesday since their clients would no longer attend hearings. "It's their prerogative and I respect their decision. The coroner's inquiry will have to continue," said District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt. The judge said statements taken from the family would be used as part of the evidence in the inquest. Public hearings are scheduled to end next week and a verdict -- purely on the cause of death -- is expected by late June. The family's lead Singaporean lawyer Gloria James-Civetta read a statement saying the Todds "will now turn to the court of public opinion with all their complete evidence that their son was indeed murdered". The lawyer also told reporters that "we have done our best and we have managed to show that there was some flaw" in the way the Singapore police handled the investigation. The walkout came after the family's star witness Edward Adelstein, a US pathologist who never examined the body, came under intense questioning for saying Todd may have been killed by assassins after quitting a high-tech project for two Asian firms. Singapore police say Todd, who had a history of depression, hanged himself in his apartment. Todd's former employer, Singapore's state-linked Institute of Microelectronics (IME), and China's Huawei Technologies denied working on a project involving Todd, but confirmed they held preliminary talks on a potential research venture. A US congressional committee last year labelled Huawei and ZTE, another Chinese telecom firm, as potential security threats that should be excluded from US government contracts and barred from acquiring US firms.
