Ivana case documents to be handed over to High Court
Vinodh Pillai
Ivana Smit (Instagram pic)
KUALA LUMPUR: The Coroner's Court here will need to submit to the High Court its notes of proceedings throughout the inquest into the death of Dutch model Ivana Smit, says family lawyer SN Nair.
The High Court will then set further case management dates for Nair's review application of coroner Mahyon Talib's "misadventure" verdict on Smit's death in 2017.
"The Coroner's Court is still collating and coordinating the (handing over of) notes of proceedings to the High Court.
"Only when the notes have been handed over will the dates be fixed," Nair told FMT.
"Since it is not known when these notes will be ready, the High Court today fixed another case management date on May 27."
Nair, who held a watching brief for Smit's family during the five-month inquest into her death, said it is normal for a delay before case management dates are fixed.
"Look at how many days of proceedings took place and how many witnesses we heard testimony from," he said.
"All this evidence will need to be transcribed."
The inquest spanned 21 days from August to December last year with 22 witnesses taking the stand.
Nair said a High Court judge would call upon him and the deputy public prosecutor during case management, to make a decision on a further hearing.
Smit, 18, was found sprawled in the nude on the balcony of a sixth-floor unit at the CapSquare Residence condominium off Jalan Dang Wangi near here.
She is believed to have fallen from a unit on the 20th floor where she had been staying with American-Kazakh couple Alex Johnson and Luna Almaz.
Alex and Luna, who have maintained their innocence in the case, are now believed to be living in the US.
Police originally classified the case as sudden death. However, an inquest was called last year after Smit's family claimed there were elements of foul play and a cover-up by the police.
On March 8, Mahyon ruled Smit's death on Dec 7, 2017 as a misadventure, which implies that Smit died in an accident due to voluntary risk with no one implicated in her death.
The verdict was questioned by Smit's family as well as Nair, who called it "unambiguous and contradicting".
On March 11, Nair, acting on behalf of Smit's family, filed a review application of the "misadventure" verdict, saying Mahyon had arrived at the "wrong conclusion".
Ivana Smit
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