Judge Datuk Hamid Sultan Abu Backer, who delivered the unanimous judgment, said police could not be executioners and the court had a constitutional duty to deal with "police excesses".
"In this case, the shooting of the deceased by a police team within a space of 10 seconds is not an exercise of spontaneous act of self-defence," Hamid said in allowing the appeal by Abdul Jaafar's widow, Abra Bibi Shahul Hamid and daughter, Norasmira Abdul.
Datuk Linton Albert and Vernon Ong were the other two judges on the bench.
Hamid said the court was mindful of police sacrifices in maintaining law and order but what was reprehensible was the need to be condemned in a fake encounter as in this case.
He said Abdul's shooting was a violation of the right to life as stated under Article 5 (1) of the Federal Constitution.
"It is an unlawful shooting," he added.
The court awarded RM51,000 in dependency claim and another RM300,000 in exemplary damages.
Lawyer V. Rajadevan, who appeared for the appellants, said high exemplary damages were awarded when the court found that acts by civil servants were arbitrary, oppressive and unconstitutional.
Facts revealed that members of the Special Action Squad shot Abdul six times while he was seated in the front passenger seat of a car.
The incident occurred at 8am on September 2, 2008 near a petrol station in Section 13, Shah Alam. Abdul was 45 years old at the time of his death.
The plaintiffs filed a dependency claim in 2009 but the High Court last year dismissed the suit.
By V. Anbalagan
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