The family of Thomas Orhions Ewansiha is seeking to quash a coroner’s ruling that the Nigerian doctorate student died of natural causes while in immigration custody two years ago.
They have filed a criminal revision application against the Kuala Lumpur Coroner Court’s ruling delivered on Nov 12, which held the authorities were not liable over Ewansiha's custodial death.
The family’s counsel Rajesh Nagarajan confirmed that the application was filed in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 26, with the matter coming up for mention today.
“A criminal revision application was filed on Nov 26 via a letter by Messrs Raj & Sach (law firm representing Ewansiha’s family) against the decision of the learned Sessions Court judge (functioning as Coroner Court) Mahyon Talib dated Nov 12.
“The matter was registered and fixed for mention on Dec 10 before the High Court judge Azhar Abdul Hamid at the Kuala Lumpur Criminal High Court 7, at (the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex) at Jalan Duta.
“The judge directed that the next mention be fixed on Feb 18, 2022, at 9am before him, to update the court on the status of the notes of proceedings,” Rajesh said.
According to a copy of the letter for criminal revision application sent by law firm Raj & Sach to the High Court, the family’s lawyers cited 11 alleged factors that the Coroner’s Court failed to consider when making the ruling.
Among the allegations are that Ewansiha was subjected to unlawful arrest in July, 2019; corruption by the authorities; that he was denied proper medical access while under custody; that he was ordered to leapfrog several times without taking into account his health issues; and the immigration detention cell’s dangerous condition for any detainee.
On Nov 12, Mahyon ruled that Ewansiha died of natural causes while under immigration custody on July 9, 2019.
The coroner ruled that his death two years ago could not be concluded to be caused by negligence or criminal element.
Ewansiha, who was a 34-year-old student of a private college in the Klang Valley, died at the Immigration Department detention depot in Bukit Jalil in the early hours of July 9, 2019, after being arrested five days earlier.
Three days later on July 12, the Immigration Department confirmed the death in custody incident.
Attendance record
The immigration authorities claimed the student was detained on July 4, 2019, during an immigration operation in Desa Aman Puri Apartment.
They claimed he was subsequently placed under remand for 14 days to verify his documents and seek confirmation from the college on his attendance record and details of his course.
The victim's wife, Blessing Uhunoma Eriamiator, called for an inquest into Ewansiha's death. The inquest hearing was then registered at the court in November.
The deceased’s family claimed that Ewansiha had been asking for medical assistance for three days prior to his death.
It was also reported by Free Malaysia Today that the deceased's family would be filing a civil action over his death, regardless of which verdict the inquest would have arrived at. - Mkini
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