Judgment Highlights Litany Of Failures In Investigating Model S Death

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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.
ADSWhile 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 failure of Malaysia's law enforcement system. The death of an 18-year-old young woman under suspicious circumstances should have prompted the most thorough and professional investigation.
“Instead, the evidence reveals a litany of failures, incompetence, and disregard for proper procedure.
“The plaintiff, aside from handling her own grief, has had to endure years of institutional indifference and investigative failure.
“The Defendants’ conduct has not only denied justice to the deceased but has also brought discredit upon Malaysia’s law enforcement system,” she said in her judgment.
The case was brought by Smit’s mother, Christina Carolina Gerarda Johanna Verstappen, in 2020, against the inspector-general of police, Dang Wangi investigating officer Faizal Abdullah, the home minister, and the Malaysian government.
She alleged the government and the police were negligent in their duties to investigate the 2017 death of her daughter in Kuala Lumpur. The court found the defendants liable and ordered them to pay the plaintiff RM1.1 million in damages.
Among others, the court found Faizal had arbitrarily and prematurely classified Smit’s death as suicide, despite his subordinates Haliza Hamdan and Ahmad Fabian Abdullah’s suspicion of homicide.
It said the police failed to secure the residence of Alex Johnson and Luna Almaz, where Smit was last seen alive, and to collect and preserve relevant evidence.
This includes failing to record Smit’s body temperature to estimate the time of death, and negligently allowing the suspects to contact a cleaner to clean their residence and thereby potentially destroying evidence before a forensics team could collect it.
The police also maintained the “suicide” classification despite a 2019 court order to reopen the investigation as a murder case, failed to show evidence of meaningful progress in complying with the court order, and failed to issue proper Interpol alerts.
Roz Mawar’s judgment is reproduced in full below, except for details redacted by Malaysiakini for privacy reasons:
- Mkini

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