SINGAPORE — Video clips showing the 40 minutes from the time construction worker Sakthivel Kumaravelu — whose death in a traffic accident sparked off Singapore’s first riot in 44 years — boarded a bus to the time crowds surrounded the police and rescue officers who were working to extricate him from under the bus that ran over him were played in court on the first day of the Committee of Inquiry proceedings yesterday.

It also emerged that government vehicles and equipment suffered S$650,000 worth of damage that night, said Senior State Counsel David Khoo in his opening statement, and that 54 first responders had been injured and 23 response vehicles were damaged.

Geylang was also mentioned as an area of concern, and Mr Khoo said that evidence presented over the course of the inquiry would show “similarities and parallels between policing issues encountered in Little India and Geylang”.

Despite high public interest since the riot on Dec 8, there were more reporters than members of the public in the courtroom yesterday.

In his opening statement, Mr Khoo told the committee that the State would be presenting evidence in three areas over the course of six weeks — to establish factors and circumstances that led to the riot; to establish how the riot unfolded and how it was managed; and to consider whether current measures to manage such incidents in areas where foreign workers congregate are adequate, and to recommend any further measures to improve their management and reduce the risk of such incidents recurring.

The 117 witnesses who will be called to testify in the inquiry include the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of Police, foreign workers, Little India residents and shopkeepers, and a behavioural science expert who will shed light on crowd psychology.

Migrant worker groups such as Transient Workers Count Too and Workfair Singapore, and human rights group Maruah will also present the committee with their views on the underlying factors that could have sparked the riot.

Representatives from the Ministry of Manpower and foreign worker dormitories will also be called to testify, so that the committee can “ascertain if allegations of ill-treatment are borne out by the evidence”, said Mr Khoo.

First to take the stand yesterday was forensic scientist Michael Tay. Moments before he fell onto the path of the bus that ran over him, Dr Tay said, Sakthivel was not visible to the bus driver from its left side-mirror and through its front door.

Dr Tay, who had been engaged by the Traffic Police, also said Sakthivel had walked alongside the bus for 11 seconds before breaking into a run as the bus picked up speed to 10.8 kmh, and had rested his palm on the left side of the bus for 1.64 seconds.

Health Sciences Authority forensic pathologist Marian Wang also told the committee that Sakthivel died from multiple injuries, including fractures to the skull and voice box, and ruptures to the right lung and liver. Most of his brain matter had extruded from his skull and he would have died almost instantly after being run over.

Shown video footage of the accident, she agreed that the injuries he sustained would be consistent with those in her autopsy report.

Meanwhile, analytical toxicologist Yao Yi Ju told the inquiry that Sakthivel’s blood sample tested 217mg/100ml for ethanol, while his urine sample for the substance tested 297mg/100ml, indicating that he had been drinking some time earlier as his body was already metabolising the alcohol.

The inquiry resumes today with bus coordinator Wong Gek Woon, bus driver Lee Kim Huat, a bus passenger, and Deputy Commissioner of Police T Raja Kumar expected to take the stand.