SHAH ALAM: The High Court here ordered a traditional medicine practitioner, convicted of murdering her patient in 2022, to be detained indefinitely at the pleasure of the Selangor sultan.
Judicial Commissioner Suriyati Hasimah Hashim made the order after finding that Che Hong Chiew was of unsound mind when she murdered her “patient”, Lim Sin Lue, at a house in Pandan Perdana, Ampang, on July 27, 2022.
During the trial last month, the court was told that Che was diagnosed with schizophrenia and given medication when she was referred to Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta in 2024.
Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Isabel Shamini David told the court that Che became depressed and isolated herself when her youngest son died in 2018.
Che also developed symptoms where she claimed to have “heard” and “seen” her dead son. She became obsessed with religion.
Today, in her defence, Che told the court that after her son’s death, she felt that her deceased son’s spirit had entered her body and “could communicate” with her.
“I also felt I had an ability to see and talk to other spirits. And I put up an altar (at home) so that I could help other people possessed by spirits.
“Lue (the deceased) came to see me (in early 2022) and told me that a baby’s spirit lived inside her,” she said.
Che told the court she “treated” Lim for a week before July 27, 2022. Halfway through the process, she felt that she herself was being controlled by a “supernatural creature”.
“This creature took over me and treated Lue (through me),” she said.
