Court rules police liable in Glenmarie shooting

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has found the police liable in the fatal shooting of a teenager and two youths in Glenmarie six years ago.

It ordered the Selangor police chief and 10 others to pay damages to the families of the three victims and RM40,000 in costs.

Justice Mohd Zawawi Salleh made the order yesterday after allowing the families’ claims for assault, negligence and breach of statutory duties on the part of the police.

Muhammad Shamil Shapiei, 15, Mohd Hairul Nizam Tuah, 20, and Muhamad Hanafi, 22, were shot dead by police in Glenmarie, Shah Alam, at about 4am on Nov 13, 2010.

Justice Mohd Zawawi, who sat with Justices Vernon Ong Lam Kiat and Abdul Rahman Sebli, remitted the case to the Shah Alam High Court for assessment of damages.

On Aug 4, the Court of Appeal had ordered the parties to come to an amicable settlement, failing which it would deliver its decision yesterday.

The panel had raised several questions about the prosecution’s case among them being why only two photographs of parang and gloves were tendered as evidence and not the actual parang and how the trio were found dead near their car if they had rushed at the police with their parang.

The panel also questioned how the bullets had entered at a 45° angle downwards when the deceased were allegedly running and how the bullets struck them accurately in their head and chest when police claimed they had shot randomly at the three, and the authenticity of the police testimony.

The families of the three were relieved after the Court of Appeal held the police liable for the deaths.

“All I wanted was to clear my son’s name,” said Muhamad Hanafi’s father, retired army personnel Omar Abu Bakar.

“I do not want people to think that our family members are robbers,” he told reporters.

Their counsel N. Surendran said after the verdict: “The boys cannot be brought back. The allegation that they were robbers is untrue and the families should not be put though this agony.”