Family asks Public Prosecutor to investigate Dutch model's death in Malaysia
The family of Ivana Smit asked the Dutch Public Prosecution Service to investigate the young model's death in Malaysia early this month. The request was made after Dutch forensic pathologist Frank de Groot did a first autopsy on the young woman's body and found that some of her injuries are not consistent with a fall from a great height, the Telegraaf reports.
Ivana died on December 7th after a night out with an American couple. She fell from the 20th floor of an apartment building in Kuala Lumpur. Her naked body was found on a balcony on the 6th floor. The Malaysian authorities concluded that her death was an accident and released Ivana's body last week.
A second autopsy was done on Ivana's body in Alkmaar, and here too injuries inconsistent with a fall were found. Further investigations are now being done. Van de Groot expects the results early in January.
"Ivana was Dutch. So the Dutch government also has the heavy responsibility of finding out how she died. Especially if the country in which she died fails", Sebas Diekstra, the lawyer helping the Smit family in this case, said to the Telegraaf. A spokesperson for the Public Prosecutor could not comment on the investigation request on Wednesday morning.
The Smit family spent Christmas day in a funeral home in Roermond, where some family members saw Ivana's body for the first time. "That was terrible. An incredibly confrontational and emotional day", Ivana's uncle Fred Agenjo, who acts as spokesperson for the family since her father Marcel had a heart attack, said to the newspaper. "It was one of the worst things I've experienced. It is now three weeks since she died. Then the remains still have the shape of a body, but it is no longer Ivana. The funeral director did her utmost, but it was very difficult."
