Police say club video part of ‘professional probe’ into Dutch model’s death
Kuala Lumpur police chief dismisses claims of a cover-up, as a CCTV image of Ivana Smit’s final hours emerges.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Mazlan Lazim said police were waiting for several more reports to decide on further action, adding that external factors would not influence investigations.
Speaking to FMT, he said police were investigating professionally, and dismissed accusations that they were trying to cover up the case.
Eighteen-year-old Smit’s body was found sprawled naked on a balconey of a high-rise apartment in the city centre on Dec 7 last year.
Police had previously classified the case as “sudden death by falling”, but her family did not accept the conclusion.
A private investigator hired by Smit’s family has been quoted in the media as saying that he was convinced she was murdered, and accused Malaysian police of a cover-up.
FMT today released an image from a CCTV recording, showing Smit being carried by a Caucasian man, while another lady believed to be the man’s spouse, is seen following them, in a high-end night club.
The picture, with a time stamp of Dec 7, 5.22am, was made available with the help of British criminologist Mark Williams-Thomas, who has been hired by Smit’s family to investigate her death.
Smit moved to Malaysia at the age of three to live with her grandfather and grandmother in Penang for 13 years.
On Dec 7, she was said to have stayed with an American and his Kazakh wife at the couple’s unit on the 20th floor of CapSquare Residences near Jalan Dang Wangi.
It was reported that she had earlier gone out drinking with the couple in Bangsar before returning to their apartment.
Her body was kept at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital mortuary for 21 days before being flown to Holland for cremation on Dec 30, which received wide coverage in the Dutch media.
A second post-mortem by a Dutch pathologist Dr Frank van der Goot found bruises on her upper arms, suggesting that a struggle had likely taken place before she plunged to her death.
Her case was reopened by Dang Wangi police following claims of foul play by her family.
CCTV shows Dutch model being carried out of posh KL club
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