PUTRAJAYA – The Court of Appeal today upheld a high court decision to award RM114,470 in damages to part-time RTM cameraman Mohamad Amirul Amin Mohamed Amer, who was injured in a 2016 shooting at the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Highway in Penang.
A three-member bench comprising justices Datuk Lau Bee Lan, Datuk Abu Bakar Jais and Datuk M. Gunalan, in a 2-1 majority, dismissed security company GMP Kaisar Security Sdn Bhd’s appeal and ordered the company to pay RM10,000 in costs.
According to Amirul’s lawyer, Simon Murali, the court’s majority decision found no merits in GMP Kaisar’s appeal.
Lau and Abu Bakar ruled in favour of Amirul, while Gunalan dissented.
The court heard the appeal on December 11 last year and the decision was delivered today in a proceeding conducted via Zoom.
GMP Securities was appealing against the 2019 Penang high court decision that held that the company should be held responsible for the injuries sustained by Amirul as it should have ensured that the pistol provided to its employee, a bodyguard Ja’afar Halid, was used in a responsible manner.
Amirul, 33, filed the vicarious liability suit on June 1, 2018, naming Ja’afar and GMP Kaisar as defendants.
He claimed that he was shot by Ja’afar while trying to help an injured person, who he thought was a victim of a road accident, during the shooting on December 1, 2016.
Amirul claimed that Ja’afar had used a Glock pistol and shot his boss dead, before firing several more shots that killed two other persons and caused severe injuries to four others, including himself.
He sought general damages, special damages for pain and suffering, aggravated damages and other relief deemed fit by the court.
On December 16, last year, the high court sentenced Ja’afar, a personal bodyguard, to death after finding him guilty of murdering his boss, Ong Teik Kwong, and two others in the incident.
The court also sentenced Ja’afar to 15 years’ jail on each of the five counts for attempted murder, where he was charged with shooting at five individuals, including Amirul. – Bernama, January 29, 2021
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