KUALA LUMPUR – The high court here has dismissed a defamation suit by a former officer of the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), Mabel Sheila Muttiah, against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown over an article on murdered former deputy public prosecutor Kevin Morais.
However, judicial commissioner Datuk Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin Shah Raja Mohzan held that Rewcastle-Brown had indeed defamed Mabel in one article titled How AG’s Office connived to prevent a second post-mortem on Kevin Morais – Exclusive expose, published in 2015.
The defamation suit was dismissed because the article had not been translated into Bahasa Malaysia as required in the suit’s amended statement of claim, Raja Ahmad said in court today.
Raja Ahmad said the requirement to complete pleadings in Bahasa Malaysia is required under the Rules of Court 2012.
“l also find that despite the plaintiff’s argument that the meaning and wording of such an article have been translated into Malay, I find that they are an inference that the plaintiff draws as to the true meaning of the defamatory article.
“To put it simply, there was still no certified translation of the defamatory article into Malay,” he said.
He also ruled that Mabel is not entitled to any compensation for damages resulting from her failure to provide the certified translations of those articles.
Apart from Sarawak Report’s article, the two other articles involved, which were also not translated, were published by Malaysiakini and Free Malaysia Today.
The two news portals had reported on Sarawak Report’s allegations against Mabel, but Raja Ahmad ruled that they were not defamatory.
Rewcastle-Brown’s article had claimed that Mabel had texted Morais’ family via WhatsApp, urging them to rush the cremation of his remains in order to avoid a second post-mortem.
Raja Ahmad held that the Sarawak Report article carried defamatory elements and said if not for the technicality, Mabel would have been awarded RM1 million in damages for injury to her reputation.
“It is not necessary to read between the lines of such an article to determine whether or not it contains defamatory elements,” he said.
Given the plaintiff’s failure to submit the translated articles, Mabel, who is a retired sessions court judge, cannot be granted compensation for general and aggravated damages.
However, Raja Ahmad said this case may be subject to further appeal.
Mabel was also ordered to pay RM15,000 in costs to Rewcastle-Brown after the Sarawak Report editor’s lawyer, Guok Ngek Seong, asked for RM50,000, which Mabel’s lawyer, Datuk David Gurupatham, requested for RM15,000 instead.
Neither Mabel nor Rewcastle-Brown were present in court today.
Later, David told reporters that his client’s name had been cleared, even if the suit had been dismissed.
“My client now has a decision that she’s not involved with all the allegations,” he said, referring to Raja Ahmad’s finding that the Sarawak Report article contained defamatory elements.
In July 2019, Mabel, a former secretariat head of the AGC, sued Rewcastle-Brown for alleged defamation over the article published in 2015, seeking RM100 million.
In September 2015, Morais was kidnapped from his car on his way to work, and his remains were discovered inside a steel drum 12 days after the abduction.
A former army doctor and five other individuals were found guilty of his murder by the high court.
On March 14, the death sentence imposed on Morais’ six murderers was upheld by the Court of Appeal, and they are seeking to appeal to the Federal Court. – May 2, 2024