IPOH: A 51-year-old man was charged at the Magistrate’s Court here with the murder of a 28-year-old fellow resident at a care centre in Jalan Chemor, Tanjung Rambutan.
Soo Kim Keong nodded after the charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code was read before Magistrate Norizan Riduan.
No plea was recorded as the case falls under the jurisdiction of the High Court.
According to the charge sheet, victim Chong Mun Long, 28, was rushed to hospital on Sept 3 after a caretaker found him unconscious following an altercation.
Chong was pronounced dead by a doctor at about 9.17pm on Sept 17.
A post-mortem on Sept 18 confirmed the cause of death as pneumonia secondary to a blunt head injury.
Soo was arrested by a team of police personnel at the care centre at about 11pm on Sept 18.
Deputy public prosecutor S. Kirthana applied for Soo to be sent to Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta for a psychiatric assessment, citing his unstable mental state.
The magistrate ordered Soo to be sent to the hospital for the assessment and fixed Oct 30 for submission of the psychiatric report.
In an unrelated case at the Ipoh Sessions Court, a 29-year-old car wash worker claimed trial to attempted murder after allegedly ramming his car into a traffic policeman.
K. Viknes, 29, pleaded not guilty to the charge under Section 307 of the Penal Code before Sessions Court judge Norhayati Mohamad Yunus yesterday.
Viknes is accused of attempting to murder L/Kpl Badrul Izwany Pauzi, 29, at Jalan Panglima Bukit Gantang Wahab here at about 11am on Sept 24 by driving a car into him.
DPP M. Raveena said the offence was not bailable, but bail could be granted at the court’s discretion.
Should the court allow bail, she proposed RM100,000 with additional conditions, including that Viknes report to the nearest police station once a month until the case is disposed of, refrain from disturbing witnesses and surrender his passport, if any.
Lawyer Jagdev Singh, representing Viknes, requested bail of RM10,000, adding that the accused worked at a car wash and earned RM50 a day while supporting his parents and two younger siblings who are still in school.
The judge granted bail at RM20,000 with one surety and ordered Viknes to report to a police station once a month, refrain from disturbing witnesses and surrender his passport.
The judge fixed Oct 26 for mention.
Viknes also faces multiple traffic offences under the Road Transport Act 1987.
It was previously reported that police had arrested a man after he allegedly tried to evade a roadblock, crashed into a traffic policeman and drove against traffic.
