Faizal Abdullah, a senior investigating officer (IO) from the Dang Wangi police district headquarters, was justifying the opening of a sudden death report (SDR) but this did not go down well with SN Nair, the lawyer for the Dutch model’s family, who is also a former police officer.

SDRs are usually opened by the police when the deceased is believed to have died due to natural causes. IPs, on the other hand, are more general in nature and take into consideration other causes of death such as murder or foul play.

Dang Wangi police sergeant Haliza Hamdan, the initial IO for the case, had previously testified that she had opened an SDR for the case after being ordered to do so by a superior. She did this despite not having gone to the crime scene first, which Nair said was a must.

Faizal, who later replaced her as the IO, arrived at the condominium unit where Smit’s body was found on the balcony on Dec 7, 2017, just before Haliza. He told the court today that he was tasked with going to the crime scene following a 999 distress call.

Asked who told Haliza to open the SDR, he said it was Dang Wangi Criminal Investigation Division (KBSJ) chief M Gunalan.

However, Faizal said Gunalan had not “directly ordered” Haliza to do this. Haliza was acting on a First Information Report (FIR) based on the 999 call made by the CapSquare Residences building manager upon finding Smit’s body on Dec 7, he said.

“All I know is the KBSJ made a decision based on the FIR, which was based on the (999) phone call,” Faizal, 38, told Coroner Mahyon Talib.

Nair said police officers should open IPs based on a suspicion that a case might have criminal elements rather than an SDR. But Faizal said the police could not have done that as they were not aware if there were such elements.

“That (suspicion of the motives behind the FIR) is good enough,” said Nair, to which Faizal explained that was why the police went to the unit as soon as they got the SDR to see what had happened.

He disagreed with Nair that the police had made a mistake by opening the SDR to begin with.

Faizal cited Section 110 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) which states that police officers are allowed to enquire at the scene the facts and circumstances of the case and to take necessary measures for discovery such as arresting an offender.

This was laughed off by Nair, who pointed to a section in the CPC which states that no power of investigation is granted to the police unless they are seizable cases or a case where an arrest can be made without a warrant.

“I can guarantee you that this is true because I have been doing this during my entire police career. That’s the law. There is no power of investigation at the scene (for a non-seizable case)” Nair said, to which Faizal disagreed.

Nair then said that was Faizal’s “prerogative”, and carried on.

Section 108 of the CPC states: “No police officer shall in a non-seizable case exercise any of the special powers in relation to police investigations given by this chapter without the order of the public prosecutor.”

Faizal said if there were criminal elements at play in how Smit had died, he would have “received instructions from above”.

The SDR was looked at twice by the public prosecutor’s office and the prosecution director of the federal territory and they had no problems with it, he said.

Asked why both Haliza, who had previously told the court she had taken on the case despite lacking the necessary exposure, and Faizal were instructed to go to the crime scene, Faizal said it was simply a directive from their superior.

Earlier, Faizal said there was a possibility of a “cover up” by the occupants of the 20th floor condo, Alex Johnson and Luna Almaz. That is why, he said, he had taken them to the Dang Wangi police headquarters for questioning.

The American-Kazakh couple were initially detained in the Sungai Buloh prison on suspicion of involvement in Smit’s death.

To a question by deputy public prosecutor N Joy Jothi about the reactions of Almaz and Johnson, who claimed to be Smit’s sex partners, upon being informed that Smit had died, Faizal said Almaz was shocked while Johnson could not believe the news.

Smit, 18, is believed to have fallen from a 20th floor CapSquare condo belonging to Johnson and Almaz whom she had befriended and stayed with on the day of her death. Almaz claimed she had sex with Smit hours before her death.

Smit was found sprawled in the nude on the sixth floor balcony of the condo.

The police originally classified the case as sudden death, but it was re-opened this year due to pressure from Smit’s family, who claimed there were elements of foul play and a cover-up.

An inquest, now in its 19th day, is being held to determine the facts of the case and whether there is enough evidence to reopen a police investigation. Faizal is the 22nd witness to testify.

Smit moved to Malaysia when she was three years old and lived for 13 years in Penang with her paternal grandparents. Her body was repatriated to the Netherlands where she was laid to rest in her birth town amid wide media coverage.

The inquest continues next Tuesday.