KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 — The High Court here today ordered actress-cum-model Nasha Aziz to pay RM10,000 in general damages to her biological father, Abdul Aziz Mohd Ali.
Judge Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail made the order following Abdul Aziz’s application for the court to enter judgment in a defamation suit against his daughter after the actress and her counsel, Rashid Mokhtar, were absent for the hearing of the suit on Wednesday. Nasha was however at the court today, but without her counsel.
Abdul Wahab also ordered Nasha to pay interest of eight per cent a year to her father, from the date the suit was filed, which was March 31, 2005, until the disposal of the suit.
In his judgment, Abdul Wahab said Abdul Aziz had succeeded in proving that he had been defamed by Nasha in her statement, as published in Utusan Malaysia on Oct 24, 2004, that she only had one father.
He said the court accepted Abdul Aziz’s statement of claim that the defamatory words had embarrassed him and suggested that he was a liar.
Abdul Aziz, 61, a silat teacher, who was present, had sued Nasha, whose real name is Noraishah Abdul Aziz, over an article in the Mingguan Malaysia newspaper which alleged that he was not her real father.
In his statement of claim, he said that he is Nasha’s natural father and that the defamatory words in the article, headlined “Jangan tanya hal peribadi”, in the Nov 24, 2004, issue had caused him suffering, embarrassment and damaged his reputation.
Abdul Aziz had sought for damages, interest, costs and other relief deemed fit by the court, claiming that the article meant or implied that he had died.
Nasha, in her statement of defence, said that the term “bapa” (father) in the newspaper article referred to an uncle, Abdul Aziz Hathim , who had raised her.
The actress did not deny that Abdul Aziz is her real father but said she regarded the uncle as the father in her life.
In a submission by lawyer M.Visvanathan, who represented Abdul Aziz, that the article implied his client was dead, Abdul Wahab said that the father who died, as referred to by Nasha in the article, was the uncle who had raised her.
The court accepted a father’s claim over his child, if indeed the child was his, and in this case, Abdul Aziz had the right to claim Nasha was his biological daughter, he added.
Earlier, Nasha told the court that she did not know the case had been fixed for hearing last Wednesday. “I only knew (about it) through the Metro and Berita Harian newspapers after reading about the case. I tried to call my lawyer (Rashid Mokhtar), but there was no answer,” she added
Met outside the court later, Nasha said she accepted the court’s decision. Asked whether she would appeal against the decision, she said she would get a lawyer’s advice on the matter. — Bernama
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