Last week, the teen accused of fatally stabbing 16-year-old Yap Shing Xuen multiple times at a secondary school in Bandar Utama last October was acquitted of murder on the grounds of insanity.
The ruling sent shockwaves across the country, with many expressing anger over the court’s judgement and Yap’s mother, Aapple Wong, calling upon Malaysians to support a petition calling for the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) to appeal the decision.
Appeal filed
The outcry seemed to have moved the AGC to action, who announced today that an appeal has been formally made against the teen’s acquittal.
In the statement, it said that the notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal on Sept 22, adding that the move was made after it considered the High Court judge’s decision, where the full written grounds were released yesterday (Sept 23).
Family welcomes appeal
The announcement was met with relief and hope from Yap’s mother, who wrote that the appeal was “an opportunity” for the family.
In a Facebook post, she thanked Malaysians who signed the petition and offered their moral support throughout the difficult journey.
Today, the appeal has officially begun. The road ahead may still be long, and we cannot predict what the final outcome will be. But at least, we have been given an opportunity for this case to be seriously examined once again.
“As a mother, all I can do is continue walking this road for my daughter. I hope that with every step we take from here, the facts and evidence will be given a full, thorough and fair examination.”
Family history of mental illness
In the 77-page grounds of judgment, High Court judge Adlin Abdul Majid said that based on a report by senior consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Ian Lloyd Anthony, the teen, known as L, described his schoolmates as “subhuman, valueless game objects” in his journal — referring to non-player characters (NPCs) in video games.
The report also stated that the teen was diagnosed with schizophrenia with psychopathic and sadistic traits, along with a “strong genetic predisposition for mental illness” as several family members had suffered mental disorders too.
The teen’s mental state took a turn for the worse due to frequent exposure to the internet, violent video games and anime content.
His personality also went down a dark path, with his family and teachers noticing he had become withdrawn, isolated and refused to communicate with his family during the MCO period.
“By then, he had developed a persistent conviction that he was physically unattractive and that people at school were laughing at him, leading him to wear a mask at all times. This was referred to as paranoid delusions,” the report said.
The teen was also found to have harboured strong distrust towards CCTV cameras in his surroundings as he was convinced he was “being watched by the eye”.
Furthermore, he also found himself drawn to school shooters and serial killers on the belief that they were very much like him in being a social outcast, were bullied, and desired to be recognised.
How Yap came into the picture
At the beginning, the teen was “infatuated” with Yap, where he physically observed and followed her at school and created social media accounts to follow her online.
Over time, he became convinced that Yap felt the same about him, a condition with Anthony called “erotomanic delusion”.
However, the teen’s perception of Yap soured when he watched a video about a Japanese man, 28-year-old Tatsuya Ichihashi, who murdered a 22-year-old British teacher, Lindsay Ann Hawker, in March 2007.
From that point on, his infatuation turned into “envy, anger and hatred, and (developed into) an intention to kill Yap”.
Anthony also noted that the teen experienced “auditory hallucinations” in the form of a voice from an anime character telling him to kill Yap.
The teen’s currently being detained and undergoing treatment at Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta in Perak at the pleasure of the Sultan of Selangor.
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