A high court in Malaysia on Monday acquitted a teenage boy charged with the high-profile murder of a 16-year-old female student on the grounds of insanity in the country's Bandar Utama town last year.
The boy was accused of stabbing Yap Shing Xuen, 16, in a toilet at their secondary school in Selangor, near Kuala Lumpur, last October as the case sparked countrywide calls for tighter controls of social media access among children.
Police officials had earlier said they suspected that the boy, who was 14 at the time of the incident, could have been influenced by social media.
In the ruling announced on Monday, judge Adlin Abdul Majid said the defence had successfully established that the boy was suffering from temporary insanity under section 84 of the Penal Code, reported local daily The Star.
“The court has accepted that the accused was not of sound mind during the incident,” defence counsel Kitson Foong said, adding that the court has ordered the acquitted teenager to be now held at a psychiatric hospital for treatment.
A testimony from Dr Ian Lloyd at the Malaysia’s largest psychiatry hospital Bahgia Ulu Kinta has also confirmed that the boy was suffering from schizophrenia, the defence counsel said.
The psychiatrist, who was also the expert witness on the case, testified that the boy had schizophrenia and suffered from mental illness. He also experienced delusions since he was nine years old, they told the court.
Prosecution failed to offer any rebuttal for the medical findings, he added.
The minor has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, which carries the death penalty, or imprisonment up to 40 years and 12 strokes of the cane.
The defence lawyers told the judge that they do not deny that the boy had killed the girl, but argued that he be granted acquittal on the grounds of insanity as he suffered from poor mental health for years.
They also explained to the court that the boy’s condition worsened during the pandemic when he returned to the school.
Mr Foong said the judge cautioned the teenager about the severity of his actions before ordering his detention in the hearing that was closed to the public and media.
“The judge reminded him never to take for granted his second chance at freedom and to always remember the life he took," he said.
According to the lawyers, the teenager would need medication for the rest of his life to manage his symptoms.
The judge has ordered that the boy would be acquitted but also ruled that he has to be detained as he receives treatment at a psychiatric hospital.
On hearing the verdict, the boy was seen “neutral in emotion, but he understands what is going on, [that] it is a very serious matter”, a defence lawyer said.
Last year, prime minister Anwar Ibrahim responded to the incident by calling for stronger regulation of online platforms, citing a rise in violent incidents against girls in schools over recent months.
“The responsibility, of course, goes back to parents and schools, but almost all of these issues stem from the unchecked use of mobile phones and social media,” Mr Ibrahim had said.
Malaysian authorities have since rolled out new rules designed to protect children from harmful online content. Children under the age of 16 have been prohibited from opening accounts on major social media platforms.
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