Lawyer M Visvanathan, who is appearing for Rahaya Salleh, said he received a letter from the Court of Appeal registry today that the judgment would be delivered online.
Parties had made oral submissions before a three-member bench, led by Yaacob Md Sam, on April 13. The judgment was first scheduled to be delivered on May 25 but was postponed.
In March 2017, Rahaya had filed the suit for assault and negligence against the government after her son, Kamarulnizam Ismail, was found dead in the prison.
The 39-year-old is said to have died between 8.30pm on March 7 and 2.30am the following day in 2014.
Apart from the dependency claim, Rahaya is appealing that the court award her aggravated damages because the right to life under the Federal Constitution was breached.
Visvanathan had submitted that the Federal Court, in a landmark ruling three months ago, had awarded RM200,000 in aggravated damages to a widow and daughter of a lorry driver who died in a police lock-up in 2012.
Further, Rahaya wanted the RM12,000 in costs to be increased to RM60,000.
Government lawyers representing the police and the prisons department have asked that the appeal be dismissed outright as negligence was not proven.
Two years ago, High Court judge Anselm Charles Fernandis dismissed the dependency claim and the aggravated damages although he found that the death was due to negligence and assault.
Fernandis only awarded Rahaya RM100,000 for unlawful detention and RM50,000 for misfeasance in public office, RM2,000 for funeral expenses and RM12,000 as costs.
A total of 28 witnesses for the plaintiff and the defendants gave evidence over a two-year period.
In 2014, Kamarulnizam was fined RM800 or two weeks’ jail in the magistrates’ court after he pleaded guilty to committing offences under the Penal Code and the Minor Offences Act.
His father, Ismail Ahmad, came to the Bukit Mertajam court to settle the fine but Kamarulnizam wanted to serve the jail term as he wanted to use the money to repair his car.
He never came back alive. The parents collected Kamarulnizam’s body from the Tapah Hospital mortuary in March 2014.
The parents had been depending on his income for their living expenses.
Kamarulnizam, who had been employed as a general worker at a sugar refinery factory in Penang, was said to have been earning RM2,500 per month.
In the statement of claim, Rahaya, a housewife, said he gave RM1,300 a month to them.
Rahaya said her son was arrested by police on Feb 22, 2014 together with three others.
She alleged that Kamarulnizam was assaulted by three policemen during detention at the Seberang Perai Tengah district police headquarters in Bukit Mertajam.
After the court’s decision, the deceased was sent to Tapah prison in Perak to serve the jail term on March 3.
Fernandis said the two days Kamarulnizam spent in the police lock-up was unlawful detention because it was mandatory for police officers to act within a reasonable time to transport those found guilty to the prison.
“While at the prison, he was given medication for diarrhoea after he complained of not feeling well. Knowing that the deceased was not well, the prison wardens should have kept an eye on him, and be more vigilant towards a prisoner under their care,” he added.
The judge said he was agreeable with the pathologist’s findings and post-mortem results that Kamarulnizam had died of a lung infection.