The family of J Soosaimanicckam remains in the dark as to whether police have reopened investigations into the naval cadet officer’s death, a year after the High Court ruled that it was a homicide.
Soosaimanicckam’s father, S Joseph, said the family had received no updates from the authorities despite sending memorandums to the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Bukit Aman and Suhakam.
At a press conference joined by his other son, Charles, he urged the authorities to hold a fresh probe into his son’s death in 2018.
“We lodged a police report urging Bukit Aman to investigate who caused my son’s death, as ruled by the court. Yet the police remain silent despite our memorandum,” Joseph said.
He also pleaded with the authorities to ensure transparency and accountability in the case, in abiding with the High Court’s ruling that Soosaimanicckam’s death was a homicide.
Suara Rakyat Malaysia executive director Azura Nasron urged the Independent Police Conduct Commission, or IPCC, to intervene in the case, saying the family had done all it could but the cops still refused to act.
A post-mortem report showed that Soosaimanicckam died at the KD Sultan Idris naval base in Lumut, Perak, on May 19, 2018 due to pulmonary oedema caused by leptospirosis, which he contracted during training.
In 2023, the Ipoh coroner’s court delivered an open verdict following an inquest into Soosaimanicckam’s death, saying it could not attribute the death to anyone in particular.
The following year, the High Court set aside the open verdict and ruled that Soosaimanicckam’s death was a direct consequence of the navy officers in charge of cadet training denying him medical treatment.
The family sued the government and 14 others for negligence but the suit was dismissed by the Kuala Lumpur sessions court in December, on grounds that the plaintiffs had failed to prove their claim of negligence on a balance of probabilities.
The family is appealing the decision at the High Court.
