KUALA LUMPUR: A man who was blinded in one eye after a tear gas canister was fired at him during the Bersih 3.0 rally in 2012 was awarded RM28,000 in damages by the High Court today.
Judicial commissioner Mohd Firuz Jaffril awarded Asrul Wadi Ahmad, 31, RM40,000 but 30 per cent of the amount was deducted for his own negligence.
Firuz said evidence showed that police had ordered for participants in the rally to disperse, but the order was ignored by Asrul.
"The plaintiff did not leave the area immediately when told to and as so, the court finds that the plaintiff had contributed to his own injuries," he said.
The judge added that based on evidence provided by the plaintiff's witnesses, two to three people were seen cutting the barbed wire fencing installed by the police to block the pavement from Jalan Tun Perak to Dataran Merdeka.
"In this case, the court finds that the order to fire the tear gas at the participants was relevant," he said.
The court also ordered the defendants to pay RM30,000 in cost to Asrul.
On April 16, 2015, Asrul filed a suit against police officers Superintendent Zahari Mohd Yussof and ASP Alekzandra Dawam, Dang Wangi district police chief, the Royal Malaysian Police and the government for negligence, naming them as the first to fifth defendants.
According to the statement of claim, Asrul, a former engineer, stated that on April 28, 2012, between 3pm and 7.30pm, he was with his father and brother attending the Bersih 3.0 rally.
At about 4pm, as he was walking out of the mosque in Masjid Jamek, a tear gas canister was suddenly fired at him which caused him to suffer serious injuries on the face and right eye.
He had sought general damages, aggravated and exemplary damages for permanant injuries in his right eye and face due to the firing of the tear gas by Zahari and Alekzandra and their agents.