Apex court rules mentally ill man need not enter defence in father’s murder case
A three-member bench restores the acquittal of former shop assistant Pang Kar Foong.
The Federal Court upheld the High Court's decision to have a former shop assistant, Pang Kar Foong, detained at Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta for his defense in his father's murder case. Kar Foong, 55, was found not guilty of murdering his 75-year-old father, Pang Ket Tai, in 2020 due to mental insanity. Previously, the High Court had ruled in his favor, and the case was appealed, leading to the Federal Court's ruling.
The court's unanimous decision was delivered by Justices Abu Bakar Jais, Nordin Hassan, and Nazlan Ghazali. Nordin, the lead justice, explained that this was an unusual case as the circumstances warranted the court's discretion not to call for the defense. Kar Foong, who had bipolar disorder with psychotic features, was deemed incapable of knowing the nature and wrongfulness of his act at the time of the alleged offence.
Written by urgent.news from Free Malaysia Today's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
Also reported by 1 other outlet
- Apex court rules mentally ill man need not enter defence in father’s murder case freemalaysiatoday.com
