Dutch model’s mum wins appeal to have negligence suit heard

 

Dutch model Ivana Smit, then 18, was found dead on the sixth floor of a condominium block in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 7, 2017, after falling from a 20th floor unit owned by an American couple. (Instagram pic)

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has reinstated a suit brought by the family of the late Dutch model Ivana Smit for negligence against the government that was struck out by a High Court judge on his own volition.

Lawyer SN Nair said a three-member bench chaired by Yaacob Md Sam held that this was an appealable case but did not order costs.

“The plaintiff’s writ and statement of claim are reinstated,” said Yaacob, who sat with Supang Lian and Ghazali Cha in an online proceeding.

Nair said the High Court would fix a date to start trial.

In her grounds of appeal, Smit’s mother, Christina Carolina Gerarda Johanna Verstappen, said Judge Akhtar Tahir had annulled the suit as Order 18 Rule 7 of the Rules of Court 2012 had not been complied with.

Verstappen said the defendant – the government – did not apply for the suit to be struck out.

She said any non-compliance could be regularised and it was not fatal to dismiss the entire claim.

On April 21, Akhtar struck out the claim but ruled that Verstappen had the liberty to file a fresh suit.

In her appeal, Verstappen also said she could not file a new suit as the three-year limitation period against the government had set in when Akhtar made his ruling.

Verstappen, who filed the suit in 2020, named the government, the police and investigating officer Faizal Abdullah as the defendants. She claimed they had failed to determine the cause of her daughter’s death.

Smit, a model then aged 18, was found dead on the sixth floor of CapSquare Residences here on Dec 7, 2017, after falling from the 20th floor condominium unit owned by American couple Alex Johnson and Luna Almazkyzy.

Verstappen said she was informed by the defendants and one Sgt Haliza (the first investigating officer) that Smit’s nude body had been found on the balcony of the sixth floor condo and that she had committed suicide.

She said the defendants had opened a sudden death report (SDR) and had proceeded to conclude the case as death caused by natural causes or suicide.

Verstappen said she could not accept this conclusion as she found it “highly unbelievable, incredible and incredulous and was also aghast and appalled that the defendants had only opened an SDR”.

She contended that the action or omission by the defendants was in clear breach of SOPs and best practices in police investigations.

An inquest was held in 2018 to determine the cause of Smit’s death, and the coroner’s court returned a misadventure verdict.

However, High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah ruled that the death was caused by “persons known or unknown”. - FMT