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SINGAPORE – A 46-year-old man who experienced a psychotic episode while assaulting his father was acquitted of murdering the older man on Tuesday (November 3), but the High Court ordered that he be kept in indefinite custody.
In rendering her judgment on Tan Kok Meng, Judge Valerie Thean noted that her decision was based on two issues: the cause of Elder Tan’s death in 2015 and whether Kok Meng’s actions were the only rational explanation for his death. father, in a case that relied primarily on circumstantial evidence.
“In light of Kok Meng’s psychiatric condition, the circumstances of Mr. Tan’s death, the access that those circumstances gave only to Kok Meng, and the events since the time of discovery by (Elder Tan’s wife) up to the moment the death was pronounced, the inescapable legal conclusion is that there is no reasonable doubt that Kok Meng caused the injuries while he was having a psychotic episode, ”Judge Thean ruled.
Left at home with father
Kok Meng, then unemployed, was said to reside with his elderly father and mother in the Bedok North flat, where the eldest of the Tan was found supine on November 13, 2015 by his wife, who is known as Toh in court. documents.
The prosecution, represented by Deputy Prosecutors Daphne Lim and Yan Jia Kang, argued during the opening of the case that young Tan had caused the death of his father by inflicting multiple blows on his face and strangling him. The prosecution did not dispute that Kok Meng, a diagnosed schizophrenic, was mentally ill at the time.
Toh left the apartment around 2.30pm that day after telling her husband not to allow her son to leave the apartment. She had previously noticed that he had been in a daze for the past few days and had paced up and down the floor.
In her view, Judge Thean concluded that Kok Meng’s involvement was a “rational explanation” under the circumstances.
She noted that Toh was absent, both men were locked in their home and the door remained closed when Toh returned, with no signs of forced entry.
Returning home before 5.17pm, Toh found her husband lying on the ground with his head bloody, and medical evidence had indicated that the old man Tan was fatally injured at the time.
Kok Meng had suffered a relapse of his medical condition and experienced severe psychotic symptoms, the judge said, adding that Tan had been witnessed by his mother and paramedics assaulting his father in two intermittent acts.
“No one else could have been responsible for Mr. Tan’s injuries, which were not accidental,” Judge Thean said.
Kok Meng also admitted to attacking his father with his bare hands. He had a strained relationship with his father, who “scold and scold” him for taking money from his parents. Kok Meng had also said that he found his father “irritating and annoying”.
There was no other rational explanation for Elder Tan’s death, and the witnesses who testified did not suggest an alternate account, Judge Thean said.
Death by strangulation and aspiration of blood
Toh had asked the neighbors for help, who saw the older Tan lying on the ground gasping for air. They both stared at young Tan in a daze, his limbs covered in dried blood.
Toh yelled at her son, asking him why he had killed his father, but he didn’t reply. At this point, his son allegedly placed his hands on his injured father’s chest and sat on his abdomen. Toh then took her son away. He called his other son, who later alerted police to the incident.
The eldest Tan later died and his son was arrested by the police. It was certified that the cause of death was by strangulation and aspiration of blood. He had large bruises and bleeding on his face, chest, and upper extremities, as well as fractures to his neck. The victim also suffered a deep laceration to the tongue, which was consistent with a punch to the face.
A paramedic, Zaneta Lee Yan Lin, who was at the scene, testified that before entering the unit she saw the younger Tan sitting on a couch in a daze and staring into the distance.
While paramedics were on the scene, Kok Meng placed his hands on his father’s throat and strangled him for a minute or two.
The judge cleared Kok Meng of the crime of murder, but ordered that he remain in safe custody for an unspecified period of time.
