Security Firm Loses Appeal Over Liability In Shooting

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Ja’afar Halid being led out of the Penang High Court in 2019. Looking on are Mohamad Amirul Amin Mohamed Amer, who was hurt, and his lawyer, K Simon Murali.GEORGE TOWN: The Court of Appeal today upheld a landmark High Court decision two years ago that a security company was responsible for a member of its staff who shot a cameraman and seven others on a highway in Penang in 2016.
A two-to-one majority decision by appellate judges Lau Bee Lan and Abu Bakar Jais via Zoom held that the appeal by the security company had no merits and that the Penang High Court decision was “factual and as per the law”.
Court of Appeal Judge Gunalan Muniandy, who sat with Lau and Abu, dissented in today’s decision.
In 2019, the High Court awarded RM114,470 in damages and costs to part-time RTM cameraman Mohamad Amirul Amin Mohamed Amer, 35.
He was one of eight people shot by bodyguard Ja’afar Halid along the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway here on Dec 1, 2016. Three of the eight were killed.
Amirul filed a vicarious liability suit against Ja’afar and his employer, GMP Kaisar Security Sdn Bhd, on June 1, 2018, asking the court to hold the company responsible for Ja’afar’s actions.
High Court Judge Hadhariah Syed Ismail ruled in favour of Amirul, saying GMP should have known the foreseeable danger of an employee holding a firearm, especially as the weapon was owned by the company itself.
She said GMP had “clearly lost track” of Ja’afar despite standing orders by the home ministry that companies whose personnel were armed must constantly be monitored.
The appellate court today also ordered GMP to pay Amirul RM10,000 in costs.
Lawyers K Simon Murali and Kok Yuen Lin appeared for Amirul, while Mohamad Azam Rashid appeared for GMP.
Ja’afar Halid was sentenced to death by the High Court here last month after being found guilty on three counts of murder and the attempted murder of five others.
The court was told he shot dead his boss, Ong Teik Kwong, and fired at random at motorists and motorcyclists on the expressway near the Penang bridge in a six-hour stand-off. - FMT

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