The High Court has ordered police to reopen the investigation into the death of Dutch model Ivana Smit, who fell from a condominium eight years ago.
Justice Roz Mawar Rozain issued a mandamus order compelling police to resume the probe, citing serious investigative failures. She also instructed the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), named as the first defendant, to remove Assistant Superintendent Faizal Abdullah from the current task force.
“The police are directed to brief the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) every three months from the date of this judgment on the updates of the investigation. The AGC is to deliver on the sufficiency of evidence and the next step forward,” said the judge in her ruling on Tuesday (July 29).
The judge found all four defendants — the IGP, ASP Faizal, the Home Minister, and the government — liable to varying degrees in a civil suit filed in 2020 by Smit’s mother, Christina Carolina Gerarda Johanna Verstappen. She had sued the defendants over the alleged mishandling of the investigation into her daughter’s death.
Eighteen-year-old Smit was found dead on the sixth floor of CapSquare Residence in Kuala Lumpur on 7 December 2017.
Justice Roz Mawar awarded Verstappen RM1.1 million in general, aggravated, and exemplary damages. She also noted the defendants’ non-compliance with a previous High Court order issued in November 2019.
“The 2019 High Court order is clear and unambiguous. It directed this case to be reclassified as death by person or persons unknown and compelled the AGC to direct the police to recommence its investigation as a murder case. Despite this clear judicial directive, evidence shows that the defendants failed to comply meaningfully,” she said.
The judge highlighted a conflict of interest in retaining the same investigating officer, ASP Faizal, in a special task force formed after the 2019 court order.
She noted that Faizal had arbitrarily classified the case as suicide on the same day it was initially investigated as a suspected homicide.
“The same compromised investigating officer was retained. Ineffective measures were taken. Although the case was split and continued, the defendants failed to offer any evidence to substantiate continuing investigative methods. The investigation has effectively stagnated with no significant progress since 2019. So, the failure to comply with a clear judicial directive constitutes further breaches of statutory duty. It may also lead to contempt of court,” she added.
While criticising the investigation’s handling, Justice Roz Mawar clarified that her findings were not a blanket condemnation of the police force. She said the evidence presented showed several departures from accepted investigative standards, which denied justice to the plaintiff. These findings, she stressed, should be seen as identifying issues that require correction.
In November 2019, the High Court overturned a coroner’s finding that ruled Smit’s death as “misadventure”. Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah, now a Court of Appeal judge, allowed the family’s application to review that decision. He found that Smit’s death was caused by “persons known or unknown” and criticised the lack of sufficient investigation into the possibility of homicide. He directed the AGC to instruct the police to reopen the investigation.
Following the latest ruling, Smit’s uncle, Fred Agenjo Weinhold, said the family was “very content” with the court’s decision.
In a statement issued through the family’s lawyer, Datuk Sankara Nair, he said: “The money awarded is of no consequence, it is far more important that we receive recognition from Malaysia that we are not crazy for saying what we have been saying for almost eight years. We won’t get Ivana back, but at least we have the satisfaction that a new investigation was ordered and the monsters responsible cannot rest easy.”