The Kota Bharu High Court rules it is unreasonable to treat the family's claim as having lapsed solely based on the date of Wan Ahmad Faris Wan Abdul Rahman's death.
The family is claiming negligence and breach of statutory duty in relation to investigations into Wan Faris’s death.
Kosmo reported that Justice Rosli Yusoff ruled the case was not suitable for summary disposal and should proceed to a full trial.
Tengku Shazuan Sarifuddin, one of the lawyers representing the family, said the court acknowledged the extensive investigation, which continued for years after the incident, including the 2016 inquest and further developments up to 2018.
“Therefore, the court held that it would be unreasonable to consider the plaintiffs’ claim as having lapsed solely based on the date of the incident in December 2013,” he told reporters.
The family is represented by Surendra Ananth, Zulqarnain Lukman, Kelvin Ng, Lim Yin Shan and Abby Si Xinyi. Senior federal counsels Nur Ezdiani Roleb and Siti Syuhada’ Alwi appeared for the government.
The court fixed case management for May 18, with the full trial scheduled from April 5 to 7, 2027.
Based on the statement of claim, the suit named the home minister, the police force, the inspector-general of police, and the two investigating officers of the case – Mat Yaman Hassan and Awis Kirani Abdullah – as defendants.
It also named as defendants Raja Rozmi Raja Rashid, a police officer stationed in Bukit Aman who was involved in the investigations; Abdul Rozak Muhammad, who was the Kota Bharu police criminal investigations chief at the material time; Nor Yhazid Idris, in his capacity as state criminal investigation department chief; and Fazley Ab Rahman, the then director-general of prosecution at Bukit Aman’s criminal investigation department.
Wan Faris’s parents, Wan Abdul Rahman Wan Yaacob and Ruhani Hussain, are claiming general, aggravated and exemplary damages from the defendants.
They claimed that the police team failed to discharge their duty of care in taking necessary investigative steps into the teen’s death, including in accordance with Article 5 of the Federal Constitution on right to life, the Police Act, and the Criminal Procedure Code.
The plaintiffs also claimed that the police failed to provide the family with updates on their probe, including the post-mortem report.
They alleged that the police failed to look into several important aspects of the investigation, including the wounds on Wan Faris’s body, blood stains found on his clothing, phone records, as well as claims of bullying at the religious school.
As a result, the plaintiffs claimed they had suffered mental distress, pain, suffering and anguish.
“The plaintiffs have not been able to get any certainty as to what actually happened,” according to the statement of claim.
Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail previously said the fresh investigation paper into Wan Faris’s death had been referred to the Attorney-General’s Chambers, confirming that police had reopened their investigation into the case.
Saifuddin said police recorded the statements of 14 witnesses, including additional statements from the chemist and pathologist who had conducted the autopsy on the deceased.
Wan Faris’s body was found by a dormitory supervisor on Dec 14, 2013, after the latter detected an odour coming from a toilet at the dormitory.
An autopsy classified it as sudden death and ruled out any criminal involvement. However, a coroner’s court ruled in June 2016 that he was murdered by an unidentified person. - FMT
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