The family of teenage Dutch model Ivana Smit who was found dead at a condominium in Kuala Lumpur in 2017, is planning to sue the Malaysian police for negligence in investigating the case.
Lawyer Sankara Nair said a legal notice was being prepared based on instructions from the family in the Netherlands late yesterday.
“I can confirm that I have been instructed by Christina Verstappen, who is Ivana’s mother, to institute civil proceedings against the Malaysian police for, inter alia, breach of statutory duties and negligence,” he told FMT. Nair did not give further details.
Ivana was found dead at the CapSquare Residence in downtown Kuala Lumpur on Dec 7, 2017, after falling from a 20th-floor condo owned by American couple Alex Johnson and Luna Almaz. She was 18.
Ivana during her early days as a model in Penang, with her grandfather Hendrik Smit.
Police had then classified the case as sudden death, and a coroner ruled her death as a misadventure.
The High Court in Kuala Lumpur in a review of the coroner’s findings later ordered the attorney-general and police to investigate the case as murder, setting aside a decision made in an inquest.
More recently, the Smits’ and their lawyers had complained that they had not received any updates from the Malaysian police since the High Court order last November.
FMT had reached out to Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Abdul Hamid Bador for an update on the case but have yet to hear from him for comment.
Ivana migrated to Penang when she was three in 2002 and was raised by her grandparents. – FMT