The family of a Dutch model who fell from the window of a 20th floor unit of the Persiaran Capsquare apartment block in Jalan Dang Wangi and landed on the sixth floor last week has expressed doubt that her death was an accident.
- Went drinking with American man and Kazakhstan wife
- Went home with couple
- Body found naked
- Father claims fingerprints around daughter’s neck
- Alcohol and drugs found in blood
- Neighbours heard shouting and arguments from the apartment
- Police accused of wanting to wrap up case quickly
- Shoes and underwear missing
- Lived in Malaysia since 2004, raised by grandfather in Penang
Ivana Esther Robert Smit, 19, was found naked on the balcony of a sixth-floor apartment, after crashing through an awning on Dec 7.
“However, Ivana, who was in the nude, was believed to have walked to the balcony and fell over. She crashed through an awning of a sixth-floor unit.”
Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Comm Shaharuddin Abdullah said police have classified the case as sudden death.
However, Ivana’s father, Marcel, told Netherlands media that he believed his daughter was pushed from the apartment, where Ivana was staying with an American man and his Kazakhstan wife.
He alleged there were blue marks resembling fingerprints around his daughter’s neck when he viewed her body at the morgue.
He claimed the bruise marks around her neck showed someone had grabbed her there.
Reportedly, police told Marcel that she fell at about 10am from the apartment.
“Very strange that the American couple did nothing from 10am to 3pm. Ivana’s belongings were still in their apartment. The police tell me that the statements of the Americans are the same.
“My daughter can no longer contradict them,” Marcel was quoted as saying.
“We want justice,” he told reporters.
Apparently, the couple with whom Ivana stayed, told police that the husband had slept through the whole episode and not noticed her falling from the balcony, while his wife had gone out to take their four-year-old son to school.
Police believed the teenager was intoxicated at the time that she fell.
The New Straits Times, citing sources, reported that she had been out drinking with the couple in Bangsar before her death.
DutchNews said police had told the family blood tests revealed traces of alcohol, ecstasy and amphetamines in her system.
According to the news portal, camera footage from the apartment had shown Ivana entering the building with her American hosts at around 5am.
It was reported that the couple retired to the bedroom while Ivana slept in the living room.
Her last communication was a selfie sent to her boyfriend at around 7.25am, in which she said she had gone home with an American couple after a night out.
Her father claimed that that neighbours heard shouting and arguments from the apartment unit in question that morning.
“The police are doing nothing with that information and just want to tie up the case quickly,” he was quoted as saying.
The Dutch Embassy in Malaysia has asked Interpol to investigate Ivana’s death.
The teen, who had a dual, Dutch-Belgian citizenship, was the second runner-up in the Malaysia Supermodel Search 2014 when she was just 15-years-old.
The Daily Mail reported that Ivana’s grandfather, Fredrik Smit, has lived in Penang for over two decades and raised her as a child there. She had first moved to Malaysia 13 years ago.
The report also raised the question of Ivana’s clothes being found but her shoes and underwear were not.
Upon receiving the devastating news, Marcel Smit, along with his wife and son, flew to Malaysia.