Magistrate Aziana Azib awarded plaintiff T Saroja Devi RM10,000 in costs according to scale, with interest at 5 per cent per annum.
Saroja, 57, is currently the director of a government nursing hospital in Kedah.
In her statement of claim, Saroja said her car was taken away on Aug 22, 2014 from her home in Bayan Lepas by Jayabalan’s assistants without her knowledge.
“A third party informed me the car had been involved in an accident along the North-South Expressway, while allegedly driven by a man called Ishak Mat,” she said.
“Jayabalan did not care about the accident and told me the car was ‘scrap’ and was ‘worthless’.”
According to a police report, the car was involved in the accident on Aug 24 the same year.
Saroja sought general, special and exemplary damages with costs, as well as RM100 a day from Aug 24, 2014 until the determination of the suit.
In Jayabalan’s statement of defence, he said his two assistants were acquaintances of Saroja’s husband and had permission from both husband and wife to use the car.
He claimed the cause of the accident was a mechanical fault with the car.
Jayabalan also claimed to have told Saroja Devi’s husband that the car was in a workshop in Relau. The husband, according to him, had visited the workshop and knew about the accident.
S Raveentharan represented Saroja while Jayabalan was represented by C V Prabhakaran.
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