Mentally unsound man, 90, who killed wife given notional 5-year jail term

Deputy Public Prosecutors Goh Yong Ngee and Thaddeus Tan said: “The heinous manner in which the elderly deceased was killed is one which ought to shock the conscience of the court. 

“Yet, the accused was suffering from a mental condition which altered his sense of reality at the material time and is at a low risk of reoffending and is now dependent on others to take care of his needs.”

Ridawi’s lawyer Muhammad Taufiq Suraidi of the Public Defender’s Office sought a shorter period of two to three years.

He argued that five years was “too long” given Ridawi’s condition, and said his client could die while detained, which would effectively make it a life sentence.

WIFE SUFFERED EXTENSIVE INJURIES

Ridawi lived with his wife and grandson in a flat.

His mental faculties began deteriorating in 2022. He stopped recognising family members, became more aggressive and began wandering from the flat and getting lost.

He was later diagnosed with mixed dementia and had experienced delirium.

On the night of Jun 4, 2024, a relative delivered food to the flat and left at about 7pm after seeing Ridawi asleep on a recliner and his wife sitting on a sofa.

Sometime after midnight, their grandson checked a live feed from a CCTV camera in the flat and saw his grandmother motionless on the floor in a pool of blood.

He rushed home and found Ridawi standing nearby and mumbling to himself.

When asked what happened, Ridawi replied in Malay that “that person no longer alive. It’s too late”.

His wife was pronounced dead at about 1.39am. Investigations found that the elderly couple were the only people in the flat between 7pm on Jun 4, 2024, and 12.58am on Jun 5, 2024.

An autopsy found at least 34 lacerations, incised wounds, stab wounds or other sharp-force injuries on her body.

She also suffered extensive fractures to her skull, as well as fractures to her neck, spine and ribs.

She died from sharp-force injuries to her head, neck and chest.

Blood and DNA evidence linked Ridawi to the attack, while bloodstain pattern analysis indicated that the victim had been attacked on the sofa and near a wall in the living room.

On Jun 5, 2024, Ridawi was charged in the State Courts with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. 

FOUND UNFIT TO PLEAD

Ridawi was incoherent when police tried to interview him after the killing.

He was subsequently found to have major neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer’s disease and vascular disease, with behavioural disturbance.

A psychiatrist said he might also have been delirious at the time of the killing.

His delirium likely distorted his sense of reality, and the attack on his wife was within the range of symptoms associated with the condition, although such behaviour was uncommon.

Ridawi was found unfit to plead and incapable of making his defence. His fitness to plead is unlikely to be restored because of the nature of his neurocognitive disorder.

Had Ridawi been of sound mind and convicted of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, he could have been jailed for life or for up to 20 years and fined.

He cannot be caned due to his age.