A cloth merchant and his brother-in-law, who were detained for suspected involvement in the Nurin Jazlin Jazimin murder case three years ago, were awarded RM41,500 and RM31,500 in damages, respectively, by the Sessions Court here for wrongful arrest.

Judge Sabariah Othman handed down the ruling after studying the submissions by defence counsellor Azmer Md Saad, who represented Mohamad Zamri Ibrahim, 36, and Mohd Suhaimi Yusoff, 31.

In the suit filed on June 19, 2009, Mohamad Zamri and Mohd Suhaimi named ASP Loh Pei Pei, the Inspector general of Police and the government as defendants.

They were represented by federal counsel Natrah Mazman.

In her judgment, Sabariah said Mohamad Zamri was awarded the damages based on a police testimony that he was not the suspect in the case.

The court also found that Mohamad Zamri's arrest was wrongful and without reasonable grounds and that he had been treated harshly by the police, she added.

As for Mohd Suhaimi, he was awarded RM31,500 in damages because there were reasonable grounds for his arrest, but that he had been injured, she added.

On Aug 20, 2007, Nurin, a Year Two student of Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Desa Setapak was reported missing after going out alone to a night market near her house at Section 1 Wangsa Maju.

The case received wide media coverage when her body was found on Sept 17 the same year, which was 27 days after she was reported missing, in a bag which was left in front of a business premises in Petaling Jaya.

A post-mortem report revealed that Nurin's death was due to sexual abuse.

In their statements of claim, Mohamad Zamri and Mohd Suhaimi stated that they were hit, stepped on, kicked and bashed up by the police, before they were questioned and remanded and then released.

They claimed that because of the police action, they suffered injuries, stress, odium and contempt.

Mohamad Zamri and Mohd Suhaimi were at the court today and when met by reporters later, said that that the decision had cleared their names and image.

- Bernama