KUALA LUMPUR: The legal tussle between the mother of late Dutch model Ivana Esther Robert Smit and the government may be resolved through mediation, the government's representative Mohd Khairulhazman Ghazali told the High Court today.
On Nov 25, 2020, Christina Carolina Gerarda Johanna Verstappen filed a lawsuit against the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the case's investigating officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police Faizal Abdullah, the Home Minister, and the government.
The plaintiff claims the defendants were negligent and failed to fulfill their statutory duties in investigating her daughter's death at CapSquare Residence on Dec 7, 2017.
Smit, who was at the home of American couple Alexander William Johnson and Laura Almazkyzy, was allegedly partying with the couple before she fell to her death.
She fell from the 20th floor and her naked body was found on a sixth floor balcony at about 10am.
Smit, who had dual Dutch and Belgian citizenship, was the second runner-up in the Malaysia Supermodel Search 2014, when she was 15.
Verstappen sought a declaration that the police had failed to carry out their duties to reopen their investigation as per the High Court order on Nov 22, 2019, given by judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
Sequerah had set aside Smit's inquest decision of her death as the result of a "misadventure", to death by person or persons known or unknown.
He also directed the Attorney-General's Chambers to order the police to investigate the cause of her death.
Verstappen, in her summons, said the defendants had breached their standard operating procedures (SOP) by making a "premature conclusion" in treating the case as sudden death in their preliminary investigation.
She had said she could not accept the defendants aforesaid conclusion as she found it highly unbelievable, incredible, and incredulous that the defendants had only opened a sudden death report (SDR).
She added she could not accept such a verdict at the very early stage, and applied to the Dutch government for assistance to intercede and to have the case re-classified from a criminal angle.
The Dutch authorities, she said, did intercede and the case was referred to the criminal investigation department but the investigation was still being carried on under a SDR.