Family claims organisers were negligent

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 06:54:00

GREAT LOSS: Gary’s family recounting their frantic search before they finally recovered his body in Shah Alam stadium yesterday. From left: Father Robert Noel, younger sister, 20, eldest sister 25, mother Jenny Robert.

FROM bed to bed, ward to ward — they searched more than 10 hospitals as the video that showed his last collapse played in their minds. The family of 22-year-old sports enthusiast Gary Leon Robert had watched the online video countless times for clues on what may have happened to him after he collapsed at the race and went missing.

While the video had given the family some hope, their worst fears came to be when police dog units(K9) found Gary’ s body lying in a deserted tunnel at the Shah Alam stadium.

"We don’t know what happened, and we were still hoping he was resting at a friend’s or at a hospital,” said Gary’s 52-year-old father Robert Noel, who started a search for Gary when they found his shoes and wallet in his locker after his collapse but him missing on Sunday.

The family now blames the organisers - who they alleged had left him unattended for more than 15 minutes.

“Now we hold the organisers responsible for this. I believe this is negligence,” said Robert, the CEO of a private college.

He said that there were no professional medics around when Gary fainted and: “When my son asked for water they couldn’t even give him that.”

The family also alleged that they were given the runaround and did not get a good explanation from the organisers.

Gary’s mother, Jenny Robert, said: “What are the organisers doing? They seemed to have just packed up and run before the competition even ended because they didn’t check if all the competitors had finished,”

She recalled the last time seeing him on Saturday for dinner.

“He had bought bread for me and energy bars in preparation for the run,” she said, adding that Gary was well loved and was not only active in sports but also in clubs and church.

Meanwhile, police have classified the case under sudden death pending a post-mortem at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang.

Shah Alam district police chief ACP Noor Azam Jamaluddin said police started a search after a missing persons report was lodged at 4pm on Sunday. He said slight injuries were found on the chin and face when the body was found by K9 dogs at about 1.05pm yesterday.

“Now we are trying to establish his cause of death and what happened between his collapse and his death,” he said.

Posted Date : 7 August 2009

Posted Time : 1.49am

Source : Malay Mail, by Teoh El Sen