Stabbing Case: 15-Year-Old Acquitted of Murder on Grounds of Insanity

SHAH ALAM: The Shah Alam High Court has acquitted a 15-year-old boy of murdering a 16-year-old female student in a stabbing incident at a secondary school in Bandar Utama last year on the grounds of insanity.

Judge Adlin Abdul Majid made the ruling after finding that the defence had successfully established the element of insanity under Section 84 of the Penal Code at the time of the incident.

Lawyer Kitson Foong, who represented the teenager, said the court also ordered his client to be sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment.

“The court accepted that the accused was of unsound mind at the date and time of the incident.

“Therefore, the defence under Section 84 of the Penal Code was successfully established, and the prosecution failed to rebut it,” he said after proceedings today.

According to Kitson, psychiatrist Dr Ian Lloyd of Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta also confirmed that the teenager had schizophrenia.

He said the central issue during the trial was not whether the teenager had committed the physical act that caused the victim’s death, but rather his mental state at the time of the incident.

A total of 11 prosecution witnesses testified during the trial, while the defence called two witnesses — the teenager and Dr Ian Lloyd.

Kitson said the judge also reminded the teenager that he had taken a life and that the matter was extremely serious.

“The court reminded him never to take his freedom and the second chance he has been given for granted, and to always remember the life that was lost,” he said.

The teenager will be sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment, including medication and counselling, before further assessments are conducted to determine his readiness to return to society.

Astro Awani