The Kuala Lumpur High Court judgment yesterday regarding the negligence suit against the investigation of Dutch model Ivana Smit’s death gave a damning assessment of the police’s conduct.

While judge Roz Mawar Rozain said her court’s findings serve to identify specific institutional failures that require correction and should not be interpreted as criticism of the police force generally, it also listed a “litany of failures” in the police’s handling of the case.

“This case represents a profound...