Dutch model's death: Police given until Jan 31 to file statement of defence
The Malaysian police and the government have until Jan 31 next year to file their statement of defence against a lawsuit over alleged negligence in a probe into the death of a Dutch model three years ago.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court issued the direction during this morning’s e-review (online) case management of the legal action brought by the family of deceased Ivana Smit...
The Malaysian police and the government have until Jan 31 next year to file their statement of defence against a lawsuit over alleged negligence in a probe into the death of a Dutch model three years ago.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court issued the direction during this morning’s e-review (online) case management of the legal action brought by the family of deceased Ivana Smit.
The court was allowing an application by the defendants for an extension of time to file the statement of defence.
The family’s counsel Sankara Nair today confirmed the outcome of the case management before senior registrar Maslinda Selamat.
“The defendants have applied for an extension of time to file in their statement of defence on or before Jan 31, 2021, and the same was allowed by the Honourable Court.
“The next case management has been fixed on March 4, 2021,” the lawyer told Malaysiakini.
On Nov 25, the Smit’s family reportedly filed a lawsuit against the Malaysian police for alleged negligence in the investigation into her death in 2017.
According to the cause papers, the plaintiff is Christina Carolina Gerarda Johanna Verstappen, who is the deceased’s mother.
The legal action named the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), lead investigating officer Faizal Abdullah, the Home Minister, and the Malaysian government, as defendants.
On Oct 31, online news portal Free Malaysia Today reported that the model’s family was planning to sue the Malaysian police for negligence in probing the case.
Smit’s nude body was discovered sprawled on the sixth-floor condo of CapSquare Residence in Kuala Lumpur, 14 floors below Alexander William Johnson and Lunara Almazkyzy’s 20th-floor condo, on Dec 7, 2017. She was 18.
In December that same year, the police had classified the case as sudden death.
On March 8 last year, the Kuala Lumpur coroner’s court had ruled her death as a misadventure.
However, in November last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court overturned the coroner’s finding, ruling that there was an insufficient investigation done on the possibility of death by homicide, but it may have been caused by "persons known or unknown" to the victim.
Following the High Court ruling, the police had announced that a new task force would be formed to reopen the investigation into the case.
The family is seeking general, aggravated, and exemplary damages over negligence, gross negligence, misfeasance and/or nonfeasance.
They seek a declaration that the defendants had failed to carry out their duties per the High Court ruling on Nov 22, 2019, which overturned the ruling of misadventure.
The family is seeking a mandamus order for the IGP, Home Minister and/or the Malaysian government to issue a warrant of arrest and extradite Johnson and Almazkyzy to Malaysia for further questioning and possible prosecution.
It was reported that American tycoon Johnson and his wife Almazkyzy allegedly had a “threesome” with Smit at an apartment unit in Kuala Lumpur, just before the model’s death.
Through the present suit, the family is also seeking a mandamus order to compel the IGP to remove Faizal from the current task force and to reconstitute a new task force for the reopened probe into Smit’s death.
