SHAH ALAM: A family has filed a lawsuit against Nirvana Memorial Park (Shah Alam) Sdn Bhd, alleging negligence after two urns containing the cremated remains of their late parents were allegedly stolen from its columbarium in January.
Chan Chooi Yee, 51, the plaintiff, is seeking general, aggravated and exemplary damages, special damages of RM32,800 representing the purchase price of the niche, interest, legal costs and other relief deemed fit by the court from the memorial park, the defendant.
She alleged that the urns were stolen during a break-in at the memorial park on Jan 23.
In a statement of claim filed at the Shah Alam High Court in June, Chan said the defendant, an established bereavement services operator, knew or ought to have known of the risk of organised urn thefts and ransom demands targeting memorial parks in the region.
She contended that Nirvana had failed to implement adequate security measures despite publicly representing that the premises were protected by 24-hour security.
She claimed the defendant breached its duty of care by failing to safeguard the urns and cremated remains, maintain adequate security and take reasonable precautions against the foreseeable risk of organised urn theft.
She alleged that the urns remained missing for about two months, leaving her uncertain about the whereabouts and condition of her parents’ cremated remains until they were purportedly recovered on or about March 6.
She further alleged that the defendant did not promptly inform her of the theft.
Instead, she said she received a WhatsApp message on Jan 26 stating only that the urn compartment had been “vandalised”, and only discovered during a visit to the memorial park two days later that both urns had allegedly been stolen.
She claimed the defendant mischaracterised the incident as vandalism, replaced the damaged niche door before she could inspect it, and failed or refused to provide CCTV footage, a copy of the police report, an incident report or a satisfactory explanation of the security breach.
Chan also alleged that the defendant denied liability in letters dated March 25 and April 20, and refused to disclose key documents.
She further claimed the defendant gave inconsistent explanations regarding discrepancies in the packaging of the recovered urns, attributing them to police handling despite photographic evidence and earlier representations by its own representative that the urns were “untouched”.
The court document stated that the theft and the prolonged uncertainty over the whereabouts and authenticity of the cremated remains caused her profound emotional distress, mental anguish and psychological suffering.
She said the incident also prevented her family from paying their respects to her late parents during Chinese New Year and disrupted years of planning to have both parents’ urns placed together in a double niche in accordance with the family’s Buddhist beliefs.
In seeking aggravated damages, she alleged that the defendant concealed the theft for five days, withheld material information, presented urns for identification that allegedly differed from pre-identification photographs and continued to provide inconsistent explanations despite what she described as clear photographic evidence.
Lawyer Revin Kumar of Messrs Revin Kumar & Bolkin, who represents Chan, confirmed the filing of the suit. Lawyer Shaarvin Raaj Selva Kumar is also acting for Chan.
