Lawsuit reinstated against govt over Dutch model’s death

 

The family of Ivana Esther Robert Smit succeeded in their appeal to reinstate their lawsuit against the Malaysian government over the Dutch model’s death five years ago.

A three-person Court of Appeal bench chaired by Yaacob Md Sam allowed the appeal by the deceased’s mother Christina Carolina Gerarda Johanna Verstappen, following a hearing of submissions by legal teams earlier today.

The appeal was over the decision of the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on April 21 last year, which allowed an application to strike out the negligence suit against the police, the home minister, and the government.

The striking-out was sought by the three parties who are defendants in the legal action.

The family’s counsel SN Nair confirmed the decision delivered by the panel today, which is also comprised of Court of Appeal judges Supang Lian and Ghazali Cha.

“After deliberation, the panel held that this is an appellable case, and allowed the appeal with no order as to cost, and further ordered the reinstatement of the plaintiff’s writ and statement of claim,” the lawyer said when contacted this afternoon.

Following today's Court of Appeal verdict, the Kuala Lumpur High Court is expected to set a date to hear the merits of the lawsuit over the police's alleged negligence in probing the model's death.

Task force to reopen investigation

On Dec 7, 2017, Smit’s body was discovered on the balcony of a sixth-floor unit of the CapSquare Residence in Kuala Lumpur, 14 floors below the 20th-floor condo unit of Alexander William Johnson and Lunara Almazkyzy. She was 18.

Later that month, the police classified the case as sudden death. The following year (2018), cryptocurrency trader Johnson and his wife Almazkyzy left Malaysia.

On March 8, 2019, the Kuala Lumpur Coroner’s Court ruled the model’s death as a misadventure.

However, in November 2019, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur overturned the coroner’s finding, ruling there was insufficient investigation on the possibility of death by homicide and on the possibility it may have been caused by "persons known or unknown" to the victim.

Following the High Court ruling, the police announced a new task force would be formed to reopen investigation into the case.

In November 2020, Verstappen, 57, filed the suit against the defendants, in order to seek general, aggravated, and exemplary damages over negligence, gross negligence, misfeasance, and/or nonfeasance.

The family seeks a declaration that the defendants failed to carry out their duties as per the High Court ruling on Nov 22, 2019, which overturned the ruling of misadventure.

They are seeking a mandamus order for the inspector-general of police, home minister, and/or the government to issue a warrant of arrest and extradite Johnson and Almazkyzy to Malaysia for further questioning and possible prosecution.

Since leaving Malaysia in 2018, the couple has given interviews to international media, where they admitted to having sexual relations with Smit prior to the incident, but denied being responsible for her death. - Mkini