SINGAPORE – A 90-year-old man found unfit to stand trial for killing his wife in their Bukit Panjang flat in 2024 was given a five-year notional imprisonment period by the High Court judge on Aug 28.
Under Singapore’s criminal procedure, the court must now report Ridawi Morsudin to the Law Minister, who will decide if he is to be confined in a psychiatric institution or another place of safe custody, or be given a conditional release.
Ridawi was found unfit to stand trial for his actions due to severe cognitive impairment. Medical reports stated that he is unlikely to regain fitness to stand trial due to the progressive nature of his condition.
In reporting the case to the minister, the judge has to specify the notional imprisonment period that the accused would have been required to undergo if convicted of the offence. This serves as the upper limit of the period of confinement subsequently ordered by the minister.
In specifying a period of five years, Justice Hoo Sheau Peng considered the case of Kong Peng Yee, who fatally slashed his wife at their Sengkang home in 2016 during a psychotic episode. Kong, who was then 70, was handed six years’ jail for a charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in 2018. He was found fit to stand trial.
Hoo said six years would be an appropriate starting point, but gave Ridawi a one-year reduction. She noted the doctors’ assessment that he was at low risk of reoffending, and is now completely dependent on assistance in his daily life.
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