Woman freed of attempted murder charge
Judgment day: Bailiffs escorting Wei Mei (right) and Wei Chee away after the verdict was delivered at the Sessions Court in Bukit Mertajam.
BUKIT MERTAJAM: A woman charged with attempting to murder her daughter-in-law and setting fire to her home in Seberang Jaya has been freed by the Sessions Court on grounds of insanity.
Lee Wei Mei, 66, was also alleged to have voluntarily caused grievous hurt to Julie Yeoh Kar Tin, 45.
Her sister Lee Wei Chee, 63, who was jointly charged with committing the offences, was however, jailed 18 years.
Judge Musyiri Peet ordered Wei Mei to be sent to Hospital Bahagia in Tanjung Rambutan, Perak, to be held under the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.Wei Mei, sporting a cropped haircut and wearing a yellow T-shirt and a pair of jeans, was expressionless when the judgment was read out by the judge and translated to her in Hokkien by a court interpreter here yesterday.
Wei Mei and Wei Chee were jointly charged with attempting to murder Yeoh, a primary school teacher, with a knife at her flat in Block S, Taman Tun Hussein, Seberang Jaya, on May 8, 2012.
The sisters faced another charge of setting Yeoh’s flat on fire with petrol.
They were also alleged to have voluntarily caused grievous hurt to Yeoh with a dangerous weapon at the same place, time and day.
Both had claimed trial.
Yeoh, 45, who suffered serious burns in the fire was not in the court yesterday.
“I have taken into consideration the submissions. I have also to take into account the injuries suffered by the victim and I find that your actions were very cruel,” Musyiri said before sentencing Wei Chee.
“However, in the case of Lee Wei Mei, the defence has successfully raised the defence of insanity and the court believes that Wei Mei was of unsound mind when she committed the act.”
Wei Chee’s counsel Y. Anbananthan applied for a stay of execution, citing the former’s old age and health problems but the application was rejected by the court.
