Appellate Court reinstates suit by late Dutch model's mother for full trial

PUTRAJAYA: A suit brought by the mother of late Dutch model Ivana Esther Robert Smit against the police, the Home Minister and the Malaysian government for alleged breach of statutory duties and negligence in the investigation to determine the cause of her daughter's death will go for full trial at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

This was after a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Datuk Yaacob Md Sam, in a unanimous decision allowed Christina Carolina Gerarda Johanna Verstappen's appeal over the High Court's decision to quash her suit.

Other judges on the bench were Datuk Supang Lian and Datuk Ghazali Cha.

Verstappen's lawyer Datuk S.N. Nair told reporters the panel held that this was an appealable case and allowed the appeal with no order as to cost. The proceedings were conducted virtually.

"The court further ordered the reinstatement of the writ and statement of claim by the appellant (Verstappen). The court also ordered the case to be transmitted to another High Court for case management and for trial thereon. No new dates have been fixed as yet," he said.

Verstappen, 58, filed the appeal on May 18, 2021, naming the Inspector-General of Police, ASP Faizal Abdullah (Dang Wangi district police investigating officer), the Home Minister and the Malaysian government as respondents.

According to the notice of appeal, Verstappen, as the appellant, was not satisfied with the decision of High Court Judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir to strike out her suit during the case management proceedings that were conducted via the Zoom application on April 21, 2021.

Verstappen is appealing against the court's entire decision which ruled that the lawsuit was struck out with the plaintiff (Vestappen) given the liberty to file another suit, stating that the statement of claim did not comply with Order 18, Rule 7 of Rules of Court 2012.

In her statement of claim which was filed on Nov 20, 2020, Verstappen said her 18-year-old daughter was found dead on the sixth floor of CapSquare Residence in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 7, 2017 after falling from the 20th floor of the condominium unit owned by American couple Alex Johnson and Luna Almazkyzy.

Verstappen said on or about the evening of Dec 7, 2017, she was informed about the death of her daughter and immediately flew to Kuala Lumpur from the Netherlands.

She said that upon arrival in Malaysia on Dec 9, 2017, she was asked by the defendants to identify the deceased at the morgue at Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL), and she was also then informed by the defendants and one Sergeant Haliza (the first investigating officer) that her daughter's nude body was found on the balcony of the sixth floor condo and her daughter had committed suicide.

She added that the defendants had opened a Sudden Death Report (SDR) on Dec 7, 2017 and had proceeded to conclude the case as death caused by natural cause or suicide.

Verstappen said she could not accept the aforesaid conclusion on her daughter's death by the defendants and Sergeant Haliza as she found it highly unbelievable, incredible and incredulous and was also aghast and appalled that the defendants had only opened an SDR.

Therefore, she contended that the action or omissions by the defendants were in clear breach of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and best practices in police investigations.

-- BERNAMA