PETALING JAYA: A supermart in Penang was ordered by the High Court to pay RM13,040 in damages after accusing a factory supervisor of stealing four years ago.
In 2020, a lawsuit was filed against against Wonderful Super Mart Shop Sdn. Bhd by 61-year-old Ram Kumar Raman, according to a report by Free Malaysia Today (FMT).
Ram’s lawsuit against the establishment was initially dismissed by a lower court, which prompted him to appeal his case to the High Court.
Justice Rozana Ali Yusoff allowed his appeal, which ordered the supermart to pay him RM10,000 in general damages, RM3,000 for “soft tissue injuries” and RM40 in special damages, together with a five per cent annual interest on the total amount from the date the suit was filed, which was Nov 9 2020, as quoted.
In Ram’s statement of claim, he said he was shopping in the supermart on April 4 2020 at around 5pm during the lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and had carried a used plastic bag with him bearing a partially ripped ‘paid’ sticker from a prior visit for his items purchased that day.
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He justified carrying the used plastic bag as he feared catching the Covid-19 virus at the time.
Ram was then accused of theft while he was putting his intended items in the plastic bag after the store’s supervisor Tan Lean Choo, 61, noticed his actions and called him out on it.
The situation escalated after Lean Choo asked Ram to follow her to the back of the store, to which he complied after denying her claims. The plastic bag contained items worth RM29 which included, quoting from the report, “a pack of loose tea leaves, groundnuts, a can of sardines, a sachet of seasoning powder, and three packets of brown sugar.”
In the supermart’s defense in court, it is against their store policy for customers to put unpaid items into their personal bags.
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Ram was then accompanied by two other male employees at the back of the store who were later identified as Lean Choo’s son and brother, who he claimed had punched him in the face.
After police arrived at the scene, Ram was advised to lodge a police report after they heard his side of the story as well as seek medical treatment.
Results from his treatment at the Bukit Mertajam Hospital found that he had sustained soft tissue injuries on his right cheek from the assault.
The supermart added in their defence that the staff were preventing Ram from leaving the store with unpaid items and denied the incidents that took place later including the assault.
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