PUTRAJAYA, 7 JULY: The family of a prisoner who died while in custody at the Tapah prison seven years ago was awarded RM250,000 in damages and RM40,800 for a dependency claim by the Court of Appeal. The three-member bench, led by Justice Datuk Yaacob Md Sam, also demanded that the government pay the family of Kamarulnizam Ismail, who died of a chest infection at the Tapah prison on March 8, 2014.
Justices Datuk Ahmad Nasfy Yasin and Datuk M Gunalan are the other two judges in the unanimous verdict delivered today via Zoom proceedings.
Kamarulnizam’s mother filed the claim, which was represented by M Visvanathan and Sanjay Nathan.
The government was represented by senior federal counsels Azizan Md Arshad, Andi Razali Jaya A Dadi, and Ashraf Abdul Hamid.
Last month, the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court’s awards to Kamarulnizam’s family of RM100,000 for unlawful detention and RM50,000 for government misfeasance.
The judges, however, upped the family’s legal costs from the lower court’s initial RM12, 000 to RM30,000, as well as allowing the family special damages of RM10,000.
The purpose of today’s hearing was to determine the amount of the negligence and dependence claim.
Kamarulnizam, 39, was remanded four times by the police for alleged break-in offenses.
He was then charged with and pled guilty to wrongful possession of property under Section 29 of the Minor Offences Act 1957.
He pled guilty and was fined RM800 or sentenced to two weeks in prison. Despite his father’s desire to pay the fine, he decided to be imprisoned and served his sentence before being discovered dead.
Kamarulnizam, who worked as a general laborer in a Penang factory, had contributed to his parents’ maintenance. In the trial, a total of 28 witnesses testified, and his death was ruled as the result of a chest illness contracted while in detention.
The jail guards, several police officials, the Seberang Perai OCPD, the Tapah Prison director, and the Malaysian government were listed as defendants in the complaint by Kamarulnizam’s mother, Rahaya Salleh./n
