Valentine's Day Murder Case: The accused was of unsound mind, says expert

GEORGE TOWN: A consultant forensic therapist who examined Cheong Teik Keon who was charged with killing his girlfriend on Valentine's Day three yeas ago told the court today that he found him to be insane at the time of the incident.
Datuk Dr Suarn Singh Jasmit Singh said he and his team found that the accused was suffering from a mental illness known as Major Depressive Disorder (MDD).
"The accused was also insane during the incident", he read out his witness statement in front of Judicial Commissioner Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
However Dr Suarn said the accused was eligible to be brought to court to be tried and defend himself.
He said that from his professional opinion, at the time of the incident , Cheong, 34, was of unsound mind and incapable of knowing that his actions were wrong or against the law due to his MDD at the time.
"I am of the opinion that the accused was severely depressed and had impaired judgement and as a result he was incapable of telling right from wrong in the sense that he did not know that his subsequent actions of killing the deceased was wrong or contrary to law", he added.
When being cross-examined by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Lim Cheah Yit , Dr Suarn said he cannot confirm if the accused was of unsound mind from the date of the incident on Feb 14, 2013 to August 2014 when the accused was brought to him for examination and evaluation.
He also agreed with Lim that he only evaluated the accused only one and a half years later from the date of the incident.
Dr Suarn who is attached to Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta in Tanjung Rambutan Perak was testifying at the trial of the engineer who is charged for killing his girlfriend in 2013.
Cheong was ordered to enter his defense early this year after the prosecution succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against him.
He is alleged to have murdered Tan Ching Chin, 24, in Taman Hwa Seng, Jalan Roshan, Alma, here at 8.40am on Feb 14, 2013.
The offense under Section 302 of the Penal Code carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
Cheong was represented by counsel Ramkarpal Singh while the case was prosecuted by Lim Cheah Yit .
Collin then ordered both defense and prosecution to submit their written submissions on June 1 and the date for decision will be set on that day.