SIBU: The High Court yesterday acquitted a juvenile charged with murder and ordered him to be sent to a mental hospital, to be detained at the pleasure of the Head of State.
The boy, 17, was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which provides for a mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
In his ruling, Judge Lee Heng Cheong said the accused had succeeded in establishing the defence of legal insanity under Section 84 of the Penal Code.
“This court finds that the accused is not only of unsound mind at the time of the commission of the offence preferred against him but he is also incapable of knowing the nature of his act as being wrong or against the law.
“This court also finds that the accused has admitted that he inflicted the injuries that caused the death of Belly Barayun,” he said.
He thus acquitted the accused by reason of insanity pursuant to Section 347 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
“By virtue of Section 384 of the same code, I order the accused to be sent to a mental hospital, to be detained at the pleasure of the Governor of Sarawak,” he said.
According to the charge sheet, the boy killed Belly Barayun, 43, between 6.30am on April 1 and 8.45am on April 2 last year at the Psychiatric Ward of Sibu Hospital. Belly was one of inmates at the ward.
According to earlier news reports, the incident happened in the toilet of the psychiatric ward.
A medical assistant who was alerted by commotion in the toilet forced open the toilet door to find Belly lying on the floor in a pool of blood with the boy standing next to him.
The boy is also said to have bitten off Belly’s nose.
Belly was pronounced dead in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) at 8.35am on April 2.