The High Court today allowed Kelantan prince Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Sultan Ismail Petra to enter judgment in default in his RM105 million defamation suit against his estranged Indonesian model wife, Manohara Odelia Pinot, and her mother, Daisy Fajarina, after they failed to appoint counsel.

Senior Assistant Registrar Shazali Hidayat Shariff made the order in chambers.

A judgment in default is a binding decision made in favour of the plaintiff when a defendant does not respond to a summons or fails to appear before a court.

Manohara Odelia Pino, 17, is kissed by her mother, Daisy On Oct 29, Shazali gave Manohara and her mother until today to appoint new lawyers or risk having a judgment in default entered against them.

Lawyer Mohd Haaziq Pillay, who represented the prince, told the media that the amount of the damages would be assessed by the court later.

Mohd Haaziq said the quantum was not the main issue.

"The prince is extremely happy and he said justice has prevailed. Money has never been the question, all he wants is to get his name cleared," he told AFP .

"Manohara and her mother should come and answer all the allegations that they had made against Tengku Muhammad Fakhry but to date they have not furnished any proof to support their allegations," he said.

Prince wants RM1 million back

He said Shazali made the decision after the prince filed for a judgment in default against Manohara and Daisy for failing to appoint new counsel to defend them.

On Oct 12, Messrs Fakrul Hisham Abdullah & Associates obtained on order from the High Court to discharge itself from representing Manohara and Daisy.

tengku fakhry manohara odelia pinot 260609 In the suit filed on July 20, the Kelantan prince claimed that the two had falsely and maliciously defamed him in allegations they made at news conferences between April and June about Manohara being abused.

Besides the defamation suit, the prince had also filed two other suits against Manohara in the Syariah Court seeking her return to him and nearly RM1 million which he claimed Manohara owed him.

Until today, Manohara and Daisy have yet to reply to Tengku Muhammad Fakhry's claims.

In May, Manohara slipped away from the prince's guards at a Singapore hotel and returned to her family in Indonesia with tales of abuse, rape and torture at the hands of the 31-year-old prince.

She later told reporters she was treated like a sex slave after her marriage last year to Tengku Fakhry.

"Imagine if you were accused of injecting your wife with hormones and cutting her breasts with razors, they have made the prince look like a monster in the eyes of public," Mohamad Haaziq said.

"The prince won the suit because defamation is established in this case by default. We are saying there is ample opportunity for them to come forward to seek justice but they failed to do so - they chose not to," he added.

Manohara - a well-known socialite in Jakarta - claims to have been cut with a razor and injected with drugs which made her vomit blood while being held under guard in her bedroom at the palace.

Her lawyer said she had filed a police report on the abuse but Indonesian police say they are unable to investigate as the incidents took place outside their jurisdiction.

- Agencies