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KUALA LUMPUR: The investigating officer tasked with probing Dutch model Ivana Smit’s death told the High Court the Interpol Blue Notice issued to track down the two main suspects was “not effective”.
Faizal Abdullah said this when asked by High Court Judicial Commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain about the notice issued earlier this month.
An Interpol Blue Notice is a notice to locate, identify or obtain information on a person of interest in a criminal investigation.
The two main suspects are American-Kazakh couple Alex Johnson and Luna Almaz, who were last seen together with Smit at the couple’s apartment on Dec 7, 2017, before she died.
“In my opinion, it (the notice) has not had any effect (in finding Johnson and Almaz),” Faizal said, adding that the couple left Malaysia on March 29, 2018.
The police officer was testifying in a lawsuit filed by Smit’s family against him, the police and government for breach of statutory duties and negligence in the probe into her death.
Lawyer SN Nair, appearing for the family, then asked Faizal whether he knew there was also an Interpol Red Notice – a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person.
He replied in the affirmative.
Nair: “Would it have been more appropriate to get a Red Notice?”
Faizal: “Not in this case.”
‘No stab wounds on Smit’
Faizal also told the court that Smit “fell from a tall building”.
He affirmed that he did not see any stab wounds on Smit’s remains that would have led him to believe she was murdered.
Nair then asked: “Her post-mortem report that said she died from “falling from a height” only came out three months later. However, you already made a conclusion. Does that make you careless in your job?”
Faizal denied he was negligent, adding that he probed the case “thoroughly”.
Roz Mawar then asked Faizal to reconfirm if he had “concluded” that Smit’s case was one of sudden death.
“I only made an early finding (after looking at Smit’s remains),” said Faizal.
However, he admitted that he found it suspicious that Smit’s passport was found in the couple’s apartment.
Nair then asked why the police did not arrest the couple, to which Faizal said they were taken to the police station and arrested when their urine tests came back positive.
Earlier this month, Smit’s mother Christina Caroline Gerarda Johanna Verstappen testified that a police officer named Haliza Hamdan had informed her that the authorities had classified Smit’s case as “death caused by natural cause or suicide”.
She said she found it disturbing that the police made a “premature” conclusion and were not open to considering other factors, including criminal elements.
Smit was found dead on the sixth floor of CapSquare Residence on Dec 7, 2017, after falling from a unit on the 20th floor.
An inquest held in 2018 determined her death to be a “misadventure”.
However, in revision proceedings before the High Court, Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah ruled that Smit’s death had been caused by “persons known or unknown”.
The hearing of the lawsuit continues on Oct 30.