Defence counsel for Kamal Adli’s attacker seeks another psychiatric evaluation
SINGAPORE - A counsel representing a man who allegedly assaulted Malaysian actor Kamal Adli told Singapore Court that he has requested to the republic’s prisons department and the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) to conduct another psychiatric assessment on his client.
Wee Hong Shern of Ong & Co. LLC said he had made the request on July 4 and is currently waiting for a clarification report from IMH or "at least some clarification from the prison.”
"In my course of conducting my interview (with the accused) it seems quite a bit of an issue with the medical report... the things that don’t really match up.
"I’m not the expert so I asked the prison and for the IMH to conduct another assessment on him (the accused). It is more fruitful if we got a longer adjournment,” he said.
Replying to him, District Judge Terence Tay said that he "prefers to give a shorter adjournment” and fixed the date to July 31st for the next mention of the case.
Tay maintained no-bail for the accused.
"When I see him, (he is) quite different from the medical report...more remorseful,” said Wee when approached by Bernama outside the courtroom.
"Hope we could do a fresh diagnosis again. I have requested for it already. I hope they agree,” he replied.
The accused on Monday appeared via a video link.
The court had in March ruled the man to be remanded for three weeks to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at the institute.
The 33-year-old man was charged at State Courts on March 14 for "his suspected involvement in a case of voluntarily causing hurt with dangerous weapon.”
If convicted, the offence of voluntarily causing hurt with dangerous weapon under Section 324 of the Penal Code carries an imprisonment term which may extend to seven years, a fine, caning, or any combination of such punishments.
On March 12, police were alerted to a case at 1 Expo Drive where the suspect had allegedly assaulted the 36-year actor with a baton which was seized by the police as a case exhibit.
The injured Kamal had to undergo surgery at a hospital here.
Kamal and his wife Uqasha Senrose were in Singapore for the three-day Hari Raya Mega Sale 2023 event starting March 10, at Hall 5A of the Singapore Expo when the incident happened at the end of the event.
As for the prosecution side, they told the court that they are ready to proceed with the case. - BERNAMA
