APPEALS COURT REDUCES DAMAGES IN POLICE CUSTODY DEATH CASE

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 26 (Bernama) — The Court of Appeal today reduced the damages awarded to the family of a grave digger who died while in police custody in 2019 to RM97,600.

A three-member bench chaired by Federal Court judge Datuk Azimah Omar, with Court of Appeal judges Datuk Azizul Azmi Adnan and Datuk Dr Lim Hock Leng, set aside the RM50,000 in aggravated damages previously awarded by the High Court to the deceased’s mother, Fadhelah Othman.

However, the court upheld the awards of RM57,600 for loss of dependency, RM30,000 for pain and suffering, and RM10,000 in special damages.

Delivering the court’s unanimous decision online, Justice Dr Lim dismissed Fadhelah’s cross-appeal seeking an increase in both aggravated and dependency damages.

The court also dismissed the appeals by the government and the police, which sought to overturn the High Court’s finding that they were liable for negligence in the death of Mohd Fadzrin Zaidi. No order was made as to costs.

Justice Dr Lim said there was no egregious conduct by police officers to justify an award of aggravated damages.

“Negligence by itself does not give rise to an award of aggravated damages as of right,” he said, adding that such damages should not have been granted.

In upholding the High Court’s finding on liability, he said Mohd Fadzrin’s suicide was only made possible by breaches of statutory and common law duties of care owed to him by the defendants — duties that were intended to prevent harm, whether inflicted by others or by oneself.

In May 2024, the High Court in Penang allowed Fadhelah’s suit, ruling that the police were negligent in failing to prevent Mohd Fadzrin, 29, from committing suicide while in custody, and that the government was vicariously liable for the negligence.

The High Court had awarded total damages of RM147,600 and RM50,000 in legal costs.

Mohd Fadzrin was arrested during a police drug raid on Nov 20, 2019 and remanded for seven days. He was detained at the Seberang Perai Utara District Police Headquarters, where he was found hanging in his cell in the early hours of the following day.

At today’s Court of Appeal proceedings, lawyers M. Visvanathan, Sanjay Nathan and Pushan Qin Nathan represented Fadhelah, while Senior Federal Counsel Nur Ezdiani Roleb appeared for the police and the government.

— BERNAMA