Alice Loke J:

[1]The deceased died tragically by committing suicide whilst he was detained in the custody of the defendants. This suit, founded on negligence, breach of statutory duty and misfeasance in public office, is brought by the plaintiffs as administrators of the deceased’s estate, his dependants as well as in their personal capacity.

[2]On 9 January 2019, at about 7.15am, some officers from the Maritime Enforcement Agency Malaysia (‘MEAM’) were patrolling the waters off the coast of the state of Selangor. At the material time, they were conducting a special operation, having received prior information about a particular boat which departed from the Sungai Belankan, Tanjung Rhu jetty.

[3]Upon keeping a lookout, they sighted the boat which was being driven in a suspicious manner. They gave chase. Shortly thereafter, they succeeded in apprehending the boat. On the boat was the deceased, Thinagaran a/l Madhavan and another person named Inthiran a/l Rajendran (‘Inthiran’). They were promptly taken into custody. On their boat, some packages were found. These were later tested to be drugs.

[4]Both the deceased and Inthiran were produced before the Sepang Magistrate later at night for a remand order for the purpose of an investigation under s 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952. The magistrate ordered for both the detainees to be remanded for a period of seven days at the lock-up of the MEAM office in Klang, Selangor.

[5]Before the deceased was brought to the lock-up pursuant to the remand order, he complained of pain at the head region. Leftenan Maritim Norakma bt Hassan the second defendant, was the investigating officer of the case. She directed that the deceased be sent for treatment at the Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Klang. He was seen by a doctor and diagnosed to have stress headache and given medication for it. Subsequent to his treatment, he was brought to the MEAM building and placed in the same lock-up as Inthiran.

[6]Four days later, at about 6.30am on 13 January 2019, the lifeless body of the deceased was found hanging from the ceiling of the lock-up. He had used a pair of pants to hang himself. This attire was provided to him whilst he was in the lock-up. At the material time, the lock-up was monitored through a CCTV. The CCTV recording was tendered in evidence. Some of the photo shots of the CCTV recordings showing the critical moments of the deceased’s actions were also adduced in evidence.

[7]Upon viewing the CCTV, it was found that the deceased had hung the pants from a grill on the ceiling. He then stepped on a partial concrete wall in the lock-up in order to hang himself from the pants.

[8]His body was sent to Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Klang for post mortem. The pathologist’s findings were that the cause of death of the deceased was consistent with hanging.

[9]The plaintiffs were informed of the death of the deceased on the evening of the same day.

[10]The plaintiffs are the wife and father of the deceased respectively. The present action is brought in their capacity as dependants under s 7 of the Civil Law Act 1956, and also as co-administrators of the estate of the deceased under s 8 of the Civil Law Act 1956. Letters of administration were obtained on 20 August 2019. In addition, they have also brought this suit in their personal capacity.

[11]The first defendant was the Director of the Selangor MMEA office at the material time. He was in charge of the entire operations and security of the lock-up, particularly the implementation of lock-up procedures to ensure the safety of detainees.

[12]The second defendant was the investigating officer in respect of the crime the deceased was detained.

[13]The third defendant, the Government of Malaysia is cited as an employer vicariously liable for the actions and omissions of the first and second defendant, and other of its officers and servants pursuant to ss 5 and 6 of the Government Proceedings Act 1956.

[14]