KUALA LUMPUR (April 21): The appellate court has set July 23 to deliver its verdict on the government’s appeal against a High Court decision that awarded RM1.1 million damages to the mother of the late Dutch model Ivana Smit.
The date was set during case management on Tuesday. Federal Counsel Nuur Zul Izzati Zulkipli appeared for the appellants, while Datuk Sankara Nair appeared for the respondent. Sankara confirmed the matter when contacted by The Edge.
A three-member Court of Appeal (COA) bench had reserved its decision earlier this month after hearing submissions from all parties.
Smit was found dead on the sixth floor of CapSquare Residence on Dec 7, 2017, after falling from the 20th floor of a condominium unit owned by US citizens Alex Johnson and Luna Almazkyzy. She was 18 years old.
The Coroner’s Court had ruled in March 2019 that Smit’s death was due to misadventure (accidental death).
Smit’s mother, Christina Carolina Gerarda Johanna Verstappen, appealed the decision and then-High Court judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah had overturned the Coroner’s Court's decision in November 2019, replacing it with "death caused by an individual or several unknown individuals" and ordered the attorney general to instruct the police to initiate an investigation.
Verstappen then filed the suit in November 2020, alleging a breach of statutory duty and negligence in the investigation into the cause of her daughter’s death.
In July last year, High Court judge Roz Mawar Rozain had ordered the government to pay RM500,000 in general damages, RM300,000 in aggravated damages, and RM300,000 in exemplary damages, in addition to RM100,000 in costs to Verstappen.
Besides the quantum to be paid, the court had also made several orders which the police had to comply with. This includes that investigations into the model’s death have to continue, that the police must furnish the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) with progress reports every three months, and for the investigating officer, Assistant Superintendant Faizal Abdullah (the second defendant in this suit), to be removed from the task force probing the death.
Roz Mawar had also rejected the government’s bid to stay the payment of the sum. This however was reversed by the COA in July last year. The appellate court, among others, found that that there was no risk of non-payment by the government, as opposed to, for example, some corporate entities.