N Sembilan court awards RM450k to family of custodial death victim

 

The Negeri Sembilan High Court has ordered the government and police to pay close to RM450,000 to the widow and son of a stall helper, who died in Port Dickson police lock-up six years ago.

According to a news report, the decision was made by judicial commissioner Wan Fadhilah Wan Idris yesterday after the court found that the defendants had been negligent in ensuring the safety of 46-year-old M Segar while in their custody.

The civil suit was brought by the victim’s wife, M Vimala Devy, 47, and their son Thusataran, 23, against police officer Mohd Rozek Azmi, the Port Dickson district police chief, the Port Dickson police station chief, the Negeri Sembilan police chief, the inspector-general of police and the Malaysian government.

Wan Fadhilah, in delivering the verdict yesterday, cited the testimony of a forensic pathologist that Segar had suffered multiple blunt force trauma and the wounds coincided with the time of his arrest in April 2017, according to The Star.

She awarded the wife and son RM200,000 in aggravated damages, RM150,000 for misfeasance in public office by a public servant, RM63,000 for loss of support, RM30,000 for bereavement, and RM3,780 for funeral expenses.

The news report stated that Segar and his friend S Mogan were arrested by police in the evening of April 17, 2017, over alleged drug abuse.

The deceased was taken to a magistrate the next day where police secured a three-day remand order before he was taken back to the Port Dickson police station, where he was later questioned by Rozek for about two hours.

Segar was found shivering in his cell at 1.20am the following morning before a police officer on duty gave him an analgesic.

The police later called in a doctor after Segar’s condition worsened but the medical officer found that Segar had died.

“A post-mortem conducted at Hospital Tuanku Ja'afar found that death was caused by, among others, injuries to internal tissues from blunt force trauma,” said the news report. - Mkini