Judicial commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain set the date after hearing submissions from senior federal counsel Azhar Hamzah and Smit’s family lawyer, SN Nair, today.

Smit’s mother, Christina Carolina Gerarda Johanna Verstappen, filed the lawsuit in 2020, naming the government, the police and investigating officer Faizal Abdullah as defendants.

She claimed that they had failed to determine the cause of Smit’s death.

Smit, who was 18 at the time, was found dead on the sixth floor of CapSquare Residence here on Dec 7, 2017, after falling from a unit on the 20th floor owned by American couple Alex Johnson and Luna Almazkyzy.

An inquest was held in 2018 to determine the cause of death, and a coroner’s court returned a misadventure verdict.

Upon revision by the High Court, Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah ruled that Smit’s death was caused by “persons known or unknown”.

Earlier today, Azhar said the family’s lawsuit was akin to directing the conduct of the police investigation.

He said the murder investigation was on-going and the present lawsuit would prejudice the probe.

“They are trying to dictate how the investigation should be conducted, which is against public policy,” he said.

Nair, however, told the court that the government’s striking-out application was an “afterthought”, as it was only filed after the Court of Appeal reinstated the lawsuit early this year.

He pointed out that the law required the family of a deceased person to file a suit within three years from the day the person died.

He said the suit would not prejudice the authorities’ investigation into Smit’s death.