The defence lawyer representing a teenage girl accused of murdering her boyfriend is seeking an order from the High Court to have her undergo a full psychiatric evaluation to determine her mental competence to stand trial. The accused, Sim Hui Ying, 19, was charged with alleged murder of Yap Kelly, 29, at a hotel in Taman Mount Austin on Sept 20, 2022.
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It is believed that the accused committed the act in self-defence, as she was allegedly being attacked by the victim. The charge falls under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries a mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
Lawyers Farhan Read and Dennis Chong, representing Sim, stated that her mental capacity must be evaluated to determine if she is fit to stand trial. “She was charged with murdering her boyfriend in a hotel room last year. He had died due to stab wounds to his chest,” they said. The purpose of the evaluation is to establish whether she was mentally fit at the time of the incident, as well as during the trial.
“The basis of our application is that before the murder, one of her teachers indicated to her parents that she (Sim) had exhibited certain aberrant behavior that warranted further attention from a medical professional,” said Farhan. They hope to obtain a diagnosis once she is referred to a government doctor and added that the deputy public prosecutor had no objection to the matter.
High Court Deputy Registrar Juliana Jaffar allowed the application to be submitted on Jan 14, 2024. On Sept 29, 2022, it was reported that a teenager was facing the death penalty for allegedly murdering her boyfriend in a hotel in Johor Baru.
