Today: Schizophrenic man who killed elderly father acquitted of murder but to be kept in safe custody

SINGAPORE — A man suffering from a psychotic attack when he killed his 75-year-old father in their Bedok North flat was found to have caused the death but was acquitted of murder on Tuesday (Nov 3). |

Tan Kok Meng, 46, struck Tan Ah Hin many times. When the paramedics arrived at the scene, he strangled his father while they watched helplessly. Under the Criminal Procedure Code, he will now be “kept in safe custody” in a psychiatric institution, prison or other suitable places for an indefinite period of time at the President’s discretion.

In acquitting Tan of the capital charge, Justice Valerie Thean said that ordering him to be confined was for the safety of society, himself and his family.

Both the prosecution and defence agreed that he was of unsound mind when the incident happened on Nov 13, 2015.