KUALA LUMPUR: The government, sued for breach of statutory duties and negligence by the mother of the late Dutch model Ivana Esther Robert Smit, has been given more time to file its defence.
SN Nair, who is representing Christina Carolina Gerarda Johanna Verstappen, said the defendant had been given until Jan 31 to file their response to the suit.
“We did not object to the extension of time sought by the defendants. An additional two weeks to file the defence is alright,” he told FMT after a case management before High Court senior registrar Maslinda Selamat.
Senior federal counsel Siti Rafidah Zainuddin appeared for the government.
Maslinda fixed the next case management for March 4.
Last month, Verstappen, 56, also named the inspector-general of police (IGP), Dang Wangi police district investigating officer Faizal Abdullah and the home minister as defendants for failure to determine the cause of her daughter’s death three years ago.
Her 18-year-old daughter was found dead on the sixth floor of CapSquare Residence in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 7, 2017, after falling from the 20th floor of a condominium unit owned by American couple Alex Johnson and Luna Almazkyzy.
Verstappen said on or about the evening of Dec 7, 2017, she was informed about the death and flew to Kuala Lumpur from the Netherlands to verify and inquire into it.
Upon arrival, Verstappen said she was asked by the defendants to identify the deceased at the morgue at Hospital Kuala Lumpur.
She said she was also informed by the defendants and one sergeant Haliza (the first investigating officer) that her daughter’s nude body was found on the balcony of the sixth floor condo and that her daughter had committed suicide.
She added that the defendants had opened a sudden death report (SDR) on the same date 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.
The attorney-general (AG) had ordered an inquest to be held to determine the cause of Ivana’s death and a coroner last year concluded it was “misadventure”.
The High Court here, following an appeal, set aside the coroner’s verdict and held the death was caused by “person or persons unknown” and ordered the AG to direct the police to begin further investigations.
She claimed the defendants had failed or neglected to carry out their statutory duties and had acted in breach of their statutory duties owed to the deceased and to her.
Verstappen said the police were negligent in failing to cordon the crime scene or conduct a proper investigation against Johnson and Almazkyzy.
“The defendants also failed to detain, extradite and secure the duo’s attendance during the inquest as the key witnesses. The police also failed to reinvestigate the case in a reasonable manner as ordered by the High Court,” she added.
The plaintiff is seeking a mandamus order for the first defendant, the IGP, to remove the second defendant (Faizal) from the current task force investigating the incident.
She is also seeking a mandamus order to reopen the investigation and an order for the IGP, minister of home affairs and the government to issue a warrant of arrest and extradite Johnson and Almazkyzy for further questioning and possible prosecution.