Man's identity revealed to be false after he dies, to sons' shock: Coroner's court

SINGAPORE: After their father died suddenly of natural causes, a family was shocked to realise that the name they had always known him by was not his real name.

His identity – Abdul Rahman Majid – belonged to a man they did not know, and who has been living in a welfare home since 1994.

Investigative efforts revealed few clues and met with several dead ends, as a coroner's court heard on Tuesday (Jul 18) on the opening of the inquiry into the unknown man's death.

MAN'S DEATH PROMPTS UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

The dead man had a wife and five sons – his eldest was given away at birth. He lived with his youngest son in a rental flat in Geylang Bahru.

On Aug 5 last year, the man was found lying in a supine position and not breathing in the living room. His youngest son, who suffers from schizophrenia like his mother, called the police.

When the police arrived, they first identified the man as Mr Abdul Rahman Majid, according to the name provided under the "father" column in his youngest son's birth certificate.

The man was pronounced dead that same day. He had no injuries on him and there were no signs of a struggle in the flat. The initial cause of death was found to be natural, from coronary artery disease.

However, police investigations uncovered oddities – there was no passport or NRIC belonging to the dead man in the flat.

Only an old construction site pass and a UOB Plaza pass indicated the man's photo and the name "Abdul Rahman Majid".

However, fingerprints lifted from the dead man did not match any record in the national database, nor any in the databases of Malaysia or Indonesia.

Blood samples showed that four of the dead man's sons – excluding the eldest who was given away at birth – were the dead man's biological sons.

THE REAL ABDUL RAHMAN MAJID

The investigating officer tracked down the real Mr Abdul Rahman. He was a long-term resident living at a home since 1994, because of his chronic schizophrenia. He is now 69.

Inspector Ng Yun Ning had a brief interview with Mr Abdul Rahman, who could respond only by shaking or nodding his head.

She showed him a photo of the dead man, and he shook his head, indicating that he did not know him.

INSP Ng requested reports from all major hospitals and clinics on the dead man's medical history, but only two returned answers – the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) and Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

The real Mr Abdul Rahman's sister confirmed that it was her brother who had received treatment at IMH and Tan Tock Seng Hospital, so there were no clear medical reports tagged to the deceased.

The sister of the real Mr Abdul Rahman was also surprised to hear that someone was using her brother's identity, and said it was her first time hearing this.

"I interviewed the sons, who received this information as a shock, because they always knew their father as Abdul Rahman Majid, bearing the IC number found in the birth certificate," said INSP Ng.

OTHER CLUES

She also spoke to a cleaner who was in charge of the block the deceased lived in for more than 20 years. The cleaner said he previously had a brief conversation with the dead man, who told him to call him "Kassim".

According to one of the sons, the family used to live in another rental flat in Hougang. When they lived there, there was a man saying he was from Malaysia, who visited and addressed their father as "Kassim".

State Coroner Adam Nakhoda explained to the man's fourth son and his wife, who attended the hearing on Tuesday, that an inquiry had to be held because the identity of the deceased is unknown.

On questioning by the coroner, INSP Ng said she had shown a photo of the deceased to the real Mr Abdul Rahman, but not to his sister.

Instead, she had given the woman the names of the deceased's sons, and the woman said she did not know them.

In court, a photo of the real Mr Abdul Rahman was shown to the deceased's son and his wife, and they said they did not know him.

None of the sons were aware of any paternal relatives or grandparents, INSP Ng said.

The officer said she had tried speaking to the deceased's wife, but the woman suffers from schizophrenia and could only respond by nodding or shaking her head.

According to one of the sons, the deceased's wife has some relatives on her side who also suffer from schizophrenia.

MORE INVESTIGATIONS

The coroner directed the investigating officer to conduct additional investigations.

She was asked to contact the relatives of the deceased's wife to find out if they had any information about the deceased. 

The police should also check with the Housing and Development Board over the rental flats in Hougang and Geylang Bahru that the family lived in, to see if there was any other name tagged as a registered tenant other than the deceased's wife.

The coroner also asked the officer to check with the Registry of Muslim Marriages or the Registry of Marriages as to whether there is any record of the deceased's marriage.

He asked the officer to canvass coffee shops the deceased frequented to see if anyone there could recall him. She should also show the photo of the real Mr Abdul Rahman to the man's remaining son who had not seen it.

The son who attended the hearing had no concerns about his father's death, but said he wanted to know his father's real name.

The coroner told him that he could understand this, but said that this might not be able to be established at the end of the day, as "quite a lot" of the investigations did not yield any clues on his identity.

Findings will be given at a later date.