KOTA KINABALU: The Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court decision for Leksun bin Injil to pay RM100,000 in damages to Datuk Christina Liew over malicious statements he made against her in a viral video in 2018.
The Court of Appeal delivered its ruling on Wednesday (June 15, 2022) in a defamatory action commenced by Liew in the High Court against Leksun in 2021.
A three-member panel comprising Justices Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, Dato’ Abu Bakar Jais and Datuk Supang Lian, in a unanimous decision, found that there were no merits in Leksun’s appeal. Thus, the panel upheld the High Court’s decision.
In the High Court, the Trial Judge found Leksun liable in uttering defamatory words against Liew in regard to the Bagahak Plantation Scheme. Leksun uttered the offending words at the Gaya Street Sunday Market three days before polling day for the 14th General Election (GE14) in 2018 where Liew was the Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s nominated candidate for N20 Api-Api and P190 Tawau.
Leksun appealed against the decision of the High Court.
In the High Court trial, Justice Leonard David Shim awarded damages in the sum of RM100,000.00 to be paid by Leksun to Liew; an injunction restraining Leksun whether by himself, his servants or agents or otherwise, from publishing or causing to be published or contributing to the publication of the video defamatory of Liew; interest on the damages at the rate of five percent per annum from the date of commencement of the action to the date of judgment and thereafter to the date of realisation.
He also allowed costs of RM50,000.00 to be paid by Leksun to Liew subject to payment of allocatur fee.
Liew was represented by counsel Datuk Alex Decena and Jordan Kong. Counsel Yong Yit Jee and Shim Mong Seng represented Leksun.