A three-member Court of Appeal bench, chaired by Justice Kamaludin Said, was not convinced by You Poh Khoon’s defence of insanity.

“The defence was unable to rebut the expert evidence of prosecution witness (Dr Ian Lloyd Anthony) on the appellant’s mental health at the time the incident took place,” Kamaludin said when dismissing the appeal.

Kamaludin, who sat with Justices Hadhariah Syed Ismail and Azman Abdullah, however, said Poh Khoon had one more opportunity to raise the defence at his final appeal in the Federal Court.

Poh Khoon was found to have committed murder by causing the death of You Su Kim, 74, between 3pm on Oct 8 and 10.30 pm the next day, at their home in Khantan Baru, Chemor, near Ipoh, in Perak.

He was convicted and sentenced to death by the Ipoh High Court on May 25 last year.

Earlier today, deputy public prosecutor Azmi Mashud submitted that the appellant had been under observation at Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta, Tanjung Rambutan, in Perak, for 22 days.

Azmi said Anthony had certified that Poh Khoon was of sound mind at the time of the alleged offence and was fit to claim and stand trial.

“Moreover, only the appellant (Poh Khoon) gave evidence. He did not bring an expert medical witness to rebut Dr Anthony’s testimony,” he said.

Defence lawyer Amir Faliq Mohamad Jamil submitted that, under cross-examination, Anthony had not ruled out Poh Khoon’s mental instability at the time as he had been under the influence of drugs.

“The doctor’s testimony is merely an opinion and it is for the court to make a finding based on all other evidence produced in court,” he said.

The facts of the case revealed that Poh Khoon killed his father by severing his head and chopping his body into six parts after his father had scolded him for consuming drugs at home.

The victim’s head was buried in the backyard while the body parts were dumped into a 1.5-metre-deep sewage hole.