In finding the police and the government liable, the court ordered them to pay RM197,600 in damages and costs to the family of Fadzrin Zaidi, 29.
Justice Anand Ponnudurai said the police had breached the duty of care owed to Fadzrin, a gravedigger, by failing to carry out regular patrols which could have prevented his death.
He said such patrols were a requirement under the 1953 Lock-Up Rules.
“The defendants owed a duty of care and it is wrong to say Fadzrin was not a suicide risk. Under the lock-up rules, that risk should have been assessed through a mandatory health check,” he said.
Fadzrin was detained during a drug raid in 2019 and found dead in his cell at the Kepala Batas police station two days later. His death certificate stated that the cause of death was “consistent with hanging”.
A coroner previously ruled that he had committed suicide, citing CCTV footage and testimony from nine witnesses. His mother, Fadhelah Othman, later sued the police and government for negligence.
Footage from an inquest showed Fadzrin wandering in his cell while his cellmates slept at 1.05am before he hanged himself at 1.51am. Paramedics pronounced him dead at 2.55am.
Anand said the timestamps of the CCTV footage were highly suspicious, with a discrepancy of 25 to 30 minutes.
“The footage should have been monitored by the duty policeman in charge. But here there are just small screens hung up on the ceiling, serving just as a playback device. It is shocking.”
He also noted that a logbook for lock-up patrols contained an entry claiming that a patrol was made coinciding with the time of Fadzrin’s death.
“In the logbook, a remark saying ‘buat rondaan’ (patrol) was added at the time of the deceased’s death. It is highly suspicious as it was the only entry of such nature. It is a cover-up, taking advantage of the discrepancy in CCTV timestamps,” he said.
The judge also found the government, as the employer of the police force, vicariously liable for negligence.
He ordered Putrajaya to pay RM57,600 in dependency costs, RM30,000 in bereavement costs, RM50,000 in aggravated damages, special damages of RM10,000 and costs of RM50,000 to Fadhelah.
Fadhelah told reporters outside the courtroom she was happy with the verdict but still grieving over her son’s death.
“My husband passed away heartbroken over our son’s death,” she added.
Lawyers M Visvanathan, V Sanjay Nathan and V Pushan Qin Nathan appeared for the family. Senior federal counsel Nur Ezdiani Roleb and federal counsel Syafiq Affandy Hasan appeared for the police and the government.
Coroner Norsalha Hamzah previously found that Fadzrin had wanted to take his own life, based on video footage shown in court.
She said there were no criminal elements leading to his death, and that Fadzrin was likely “ashamed to have been caught by police as he was about to get married soon”.