'Families of deceased not entitled to receive exemplary damages'

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A senior federal counsel representing the police and the government told the Federal Court today that the families of A Kugan and Abdul Jaffar Abdul Mutalib are not entitled to receive exemplary damages.

This is because Section 8(2) of the Civil Law Act bars the estate of the deceased from seeking such compensation, senior federal counsel Alice Loke argued, adding that the High Court and Court of Appeal had erred in granting exemplary damages to the two families.

“It is clearly stated under Section 8 (2) (a) that the estate is not entitled to exemplary damages if the victim had died. Hence, the courts were wrong in giving out the award,” Loke (photo) said.

She also said that in the Kugan's case, although the court awarded RM100,000 for misfeasance in public office, the award can only be given pre-death and not as a result of actions post-death of Kugan, such as not having an inquest into the death.

“Hence, the appellant proposes that the damages for misfeasance in public office be reduced to RM50,000 and not RM100,000 to accommodate (the situation) before Kugan's death,” Loke said.

The government is not appealing the facts of the case but basically the quantum of RM351,000 in total damages awarded to the family of Abdul Jaffar and a total of RM701,000 to Kugan's estate.

Kugan, who worked as a car repossessor, died as a result of beatings he suffered at the hands of the police at the Taipan police station in Subang Jaya in early 2009.

Similar arguments were made in the case of Abdul Jaffar, who also worked as a car repossessor and died after police shot him as he was seated in the front passenger seat of a Proton Waja car in 2008.

The appeal is being heard before a five-member bench chaired by Justice Suriyadi Halim Omar.

The other judges are Federal Court judges Ahmad Maarop, Zainun Ali, Azahar Mohamed and Zaharah Ibrahim.

[More to follow]

- Mkini