THE Kuala Lumpur High Court has ordered the Malaysian government to pay RM194,170 in damages to the family of a man who died by suicide while in the custody of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), ruling that his death was the result of serious negligence by authorities.
Justice Datuk Alice Loke Yee Ching found that officers had failed to take reasonable precautions to prevent M. Thinagaran from ending his life while being held in remand at an MMEA lock-up in Klang, where he was under investigation for drug trafficking.
The claim was brought by the deceased’s wife, R. Tenaswari, and father, K. Madhavan, who sued the government and two MMEA officers as co-administrators of Thinagaran’s estate.
“The deceased hung the extra pair of pants from a grill on the ceiling, which had been installed after a previous escape by a detainee,” New Straits Times cited Loke writing in her 28 July judgment.
“Unfortunately, the grill and the pants became the very means for the deceased to harm himself. There was no reason to have provided the deceased with the extra pair of pants. The presence of the grill ought to have raised a red flag. The defendants obviously overlooked this and should have taken steps to avoid exposing the deceased to danger.”
The court concluded that the risk of suicide was foreseeable and that there was a clear breach of duty of care, particularly given the physical conditions of the lock-up and the detainee’s psychological vulnerability. Loke noted that detainees, especially those facing serious charges, were susceptible to depression and suicidal tendencies.
She also pointed out that the lock-up in question was not a gazetted detention centre and that the facility’s closed-circuit television (CCTV) system was only reviewed once every hour.
“Monitoring at hourly intervals defeats the purpose of having CCTV,” she said. “It is meant for continuous monitoring. Had there not been a lapse in monitoring, the suicide could have been prevented. The lack of closer monitoring caused the officers on duty to miss the entire series of actions taken by the deceased just prior to his suicide.”
The court rejected the government's argument that Thinagaran’s suicide was unforeseeable or that his own actions had broken the chain of causation. Loke said the authorities had a duty precisely to prevent the very outcome that occurred.
“Persons in custody are susceptible to mental stress. They are vulnerable to depression, and hence suicidal impulses are not unforeseeable,” she added.
The claim for contributory negligence was also dismissed, with the court ruling that it would be unjust to attribute blame to the deceased, who had been under immense psychological pressure facing a capital offence.
The court awarded RM6,370 in special damages, RM5,000 for funeral expenses, RM10,000 for bereavement, and RM172,800 for loss of earnings. An additional RM30,000 was awarded in legal costs.
Counsel M. Manoharan appeared for the plaintiffs, while senior federal counsel Siti Syakimah Ibrahim represented the government and the MMEA officers. - August 1, 2025
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