Family Of Murdered Dutch Model Appeals To Anwar For Help

---

 
A lawyer representing the family of Ivana Smit has asked Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to intervene in the investigation into her death. (Instagram pic)PETALING JAYA: The family of a Dutch model Ivana Smit found dead in 2017 has asked Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to get answers from the police about the investigation into her murder, which reportedly began four years ago.
Smit, then 18, died after falling from a Kuala Lumpur condominium unit occupied by an American couple, on Dec 7, 2017.
Sébas Diekstra, a lawyer representing the Smit family, said there has been complete silence from the police since a press conference in 2019.
“The family has not received any updates. No information at all,” he told FMT.
Diekstra had earlier tweeted urging Anwar to become involved in the case, in the absence of any communication from the police.
“There are many important questions that remain unanswered. Is there a third party involved in her death?” he said in his tweet.
“I would like to appeal to Anwar to instruct those in authority to do something. His involvement will help to get justice for Smit and her family,” he said in the post, also tagging Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Rutte had previously phoned then-prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob last August. He said Ismail assured him there would be a transparent investigation into Smit’s death.
In 2019, a High Court judge, Collin Lawrence Sequerah, had ruled that Smit’s death was due to “person or persons unknown”.
Five days later, then CID director Huzir Mohamed announced that a task force would investigate the case, which was then reclassified from one of sudden death to murder.
A Dutch pathologist, who took a second look at Smit’s body, found signs that she had struggled before she died, based on bruises on her arms.
Smit had moved to Penang in 2002 at the age of three to live with her grandparents.
FMT has sought comment from the police. - FMT

---