A three-member bench chaired by Justice Che Ruzima Ghazali allowed the government’s leave application on grounds that there had been no ruling by a Court of Appeal on aggravated damages and liability.
Che Ruzima, who heard the application with Justices Azman Abdullah and Zaini Mazlan, said the court also needed to deliberate whether the 1953 Lock-up Rules were applicable in deciding if the police had been negligent.
“This issue needs to be further ventilated for the benefit of the public,” said Che Ruzima.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers had filed an application to obtain leave of the court as the damages awarded by a High Court in Penang was less than RM250,000.
Under Section 68 of the Courts of Judicature Act, an appellant has no automatic right of appeal when a judgment sum is below RM250,000.
Senior federal counsel Nur Ezdiani Roleb and federal counsel Syafiq Affandy Hassan represented the government while Sanjay Nathan and Pushan Qin Nathan acted for Fadzrin Zaidi’s mother, Fadhelah Othman.
Justice Anand Ponnudurai had on May 20 this year found the police negligent as they had failed to prevent Fadzrin, 29, from committing suicide while under their custody.
Anand ordered Putrajaya to pay Fadhelah RM197,600 in damages, 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.
The judge said the police had breached the duty of care owed to Fadzrin by failing to carry out regular patrols which could have prevented his death. He said such patrols were a requirement under the lock-up rules.
Anand found the government, as the employer of the police force, vicariously liable for negligence.
Fadzrin was detained during a drug raid in 2019 and was 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.
Coroner Norsalha Hamzah had earlier ruled that Fadzrin had committed suicide, citing CCTV footage and testimony from nine witnesses.
She 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.