KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has rejected the government's application to postpone the payment of RM1.1mill in damages to the mother of the late Dutch model Ivana Esther Robert Smit, in a lawsuit related to her daughter whose body was found on the sixth-floor balcony of a condominium.
Judge Roz Mawar Rozain ordered the government to deposit the amount, along with accrued interest, into a trust account by Thursday (Nov 13).
The court also ordered the government to pay costs of RM8,000 to Christina Carolina Gerarda Johanna Verstappen, the mother of Ivana Smit.
Lawyer Datuk SN Nair represented Verstappen while federal senior counsel Siti Aishah Ramlan represented the government.
The model's mother, as the plaintiff, had filed a lawsuit against the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Dang Wangi investigating officer ASP Faizal Abdullah, the Home Minister and the Malaysian government as defendants, alleging a breach of statutory duty and negligence in the investigation into the cause of her daughter's death.
On July 29, the court 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 the plaintiff.
Judge Roz Mawar also directed the IGP (first defendant) to remove Faizal (second defendant) from the task force and ordered the police to reopen the investigation into the death of Ivana Smit as ordered by the High Court in 2019 against the Coroner's Court's decision.
"The police were ordered to brief the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) on the progress of the investigation every three months starting from the date of the judgement (July 29), while the AGC needed to determine whether the evidence collected is sufficient and to set further action to be taken," said Judge Roz Mawar.
In a lawsuit filed on Nov 20, 2020, Verstappen claimed her daughter 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 claimed the police were negligent in failing to cordon off the crime scene, seize the victim's personal belongings, collect evidence, conduct a proper investigation into Johnson and Almazkyzy, and in failing to arrest, extradite and ensure their presence at the inquest as key witnesses.
On March 18, 2019, the Coroner's Court ruled that Ivana Smit's death was due to misadventure (accidental death).
Dissatisfied with the Coroner's Court's decision, Verstappen appealed to the High Court here and on Nov 22, 2019, then-High Court Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah (now a Court of Appeal Judge) overturned the Coroner's Court's decision, 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. – Bernama
