A former lorry driver was acquitted of killing his paralysed mother on the grounds of insanity.
Chan Chee Keong, 56, escaped the mandatory death sentence for his mother’s murder when the Ipoh High Court ordered his release on grounds of insanity.
However, Judicial Commissioner Anselm Charles Fernandis ordered him to be detained at Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta, Tanjung Rambutan, at the pleasure of the Sultan of Perak as provided under Section 348 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
In the judgment, Fernandis said he was satisfied with the testimony given by Hospital Bahagia psychiatric specialist Dr Ian Lloyd Anthony.
A report by Anthony confirmed that Chan was suffering from organic brain syndrome.
Apart from that, he said, the court took note that the prosecution did not challenge the defence of insanity by the defence.
“The accused committed the offence in a state of insanity and did not know that his act was an offence or against the law.
“Therefore, the court releases the accused under Section 347 of the Criminal Procedure Code,” he said.
Chan was charged with murdering Low Kew@ Low Lin Kiew, then 74, at their home at Kampung Baru Cina, Air Kuning, near Tapah, at about 6.45pm on Sept 27 last year.
During the incident, Chan had strangled and slashed the face and neck of his elderly paralysed mother.
Following his arrest, Chan underwent observation at Hospital Bahagia where a psychiatric consultant confirmed he was of unsound mind and was unaware of the consequences of his actions.
Thirteen prosecution witnesses and one defence witness testified during the hearing.
The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutors How May Ling and Fatin Farahiah Nadzri, while Chan was represented by lawyers Datuk Naran Singh, Farhan Fadzil and J Matthews.