The family of American researcher Shane Todd stormed out of the courtroom, shortly after the inquiry into his death resumed after lunch on Tuesday.

This after the State Coroner turned down a request from their lawyer Foo Cheow Ming, to have a witness stood down to the next day so they would have time to prepare and "corroborate evidence" because the witness was due to fly out this evening.

The witness, French national Luis Alejandro Andia Montes, was apparently the last person to have seen Dr Todd alive before his body was found hanged in his home on June 24.

Mr Montes, who was Dr Todd's colleague at the Singapore Institute of Microelectronics (IME), had not been due to take the stand as he was not in Singapore.

Senior State Counsel Tai Wei Shyong, however, told the court just before the lunchbreak that the State had managed to locate Mr Montes and that he had agreed to take the stand.

Dr Todd's parents, Mr Rick and Mary Todd told the media outside the Subordinate Courts that the evidence had been "sprung upon" the family, and that the court was showing double standards, having earlier "chastised" their lawyers for introducing evidence at the last minute.

"(Mr Montes) is claiming our son was alive on the 23rd (of June 2012). We don't believe that," added Mrs Todd, who said her son's girlfriend did not recognise Mr Montes.