SHAH ALAM: The Shah Alam High Court yesterday acquitted a schizophrenic man from a charge of murdering his own father, on grounds that he was of unsound mind when the crime was committed in 2019.
Judicial Commissioner Wendy Ooi Su Ghee ordered Jamil Tawasil, 38, to be confined and placed under the care of Hospital Bahagia in Ulu Kinta, Perak for as long as consented at the pleasure of the Sultan of Selangor.
Jamil had killed his father by bashing him with a piece of wood and slashing him with a cleaver.
In the judgment dated Nov 28, the judicial commissioner said the court found that the accused was unable to realise his actions and unable to know what he did was wrong or was against the law.
"Looking at the facts, the accused was in his bedroom after the act and was sitting and smoking when the police arrived.
"He neither ran away after committing the act nor disposed the cleaver and the piece of wood.
"When asked by the police on what he had done, the accused said he did not know anything and he was sleeping in the room," she said.
She said based on psychiatric reports, the accused had persecutory delusion, bizarre delusion and delusion misidentification.
The accused, she said, also had auditory hallucinations and visual hallucinations.
"The evidence of the accused's mental examination on auditory hallucinations was consistent with his caution statement, especially the fact that the accused heard voices in his head telling him to commit the act and instructed him to take the cleaver and the wood in the kitchen.
"Consistent with evidence of the accused's mental examination on visual hallucination also showed that the accused saw a figure, or a piece of wood, and not his father who was lying in the living room," she said.
She added that the accused also suffered from 'schizophrenia with comorbid substance use disorder' and received psychiatric treatment from 2011 to 2014.
However, he did not continue with follow-up treatment which caused his condition to worsen.
"He had locked himself up in the house, often acted strangely and neglected his own care and hygiene.
"The absence of follow-up treatment as directed had worsened the accused's illness symptoms which escalated to the heinous act on the night of Nov 9,2019," she said.
Post mortem results showed that among the injuries sustained by Tawasil Sinag, 68, were slash wounds and bruises on the head, face, arm and severed fingers.
The cause of death was blunt trauma to the head.
Jamil was charged with the murder of Tawasil at a home in Taman Puteri Taragon, Batu 9, Cheras between 11pm to 11.15pm on Nov 9,2019.
He pleaded not guilty.
The act was witnessed by Jamil's mother, who heard of sounds of someone being attacked. She saw her son holding a piece of wood and swinging it towards Tawasil, who was sat on the floor.
Tawasil was hit and slashed on the head as well as his face and hand.