Court extends observation order on housewife charged with disposing son's body

The Selayang Magistrate's Court today extended the psychiatric observation order for another two months on a housewife accused of burying her son in the kitchen floor of a terrace house.

Magistrate Nurliana Ismail set Sept 8 for re-mention after deputy public prosecutor Raja Sharifah Zulia Balqish Syed Agil informed the court that the psychiatric assessment report on Tan Jia Boa, 33, had not been completed.

Later outside the court, counsel Kitson Foong told reporters that Tan could not be present in court today as she was still under observation at the Tanjung Rambutan Hospital in Perak.

"The hospital foresees it would take about three months. Psychiatry is not like any normal examination, you have to study behaviorial and other aspects particularly if it involves 'battered wife syndrome' (depressive disorder)," he said.

On June 12, Tan was charged with disposing the body of Lee Yong Shen Evan, 9, at house No. 26, Jalan 10, Taman Usaha Jaya, Kepong at 2 pm on March 29; her husband Loo Chon Wen, 33, was charged with murdering him.

Tan faces Section 201 of the Penal Code which carries a maximum prison term of seven years and liable to a fine upon conviction.

Loo faces the mandatory death sentence under Section 302 of the Penal Code, if convicted.