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Suicidal man sent to IMH, not jail
By Shaffiq Alkhatib | Posted: 22 June 2011 1417 hrs
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SINGAPORE: Instead of being jailed, a man has been placed on six months probation for attempting suicide twice at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH).
Defence counsel Josephus Tan told the court that 35-year-old Andrew Seah Yee Hung had been diagnosed with a string of mental disorders.
They include anti-social, narcissistic and borderline personality disorder as well as Munchausen's Syndrome where patients feign illness or injury to draw sympathy to themselves.
Seah could have been jailed up to a year and fined for each of the two charges.
He had threatened to jump from the hospital building on Nov 30 last year after a doctor told him there were no grounds to admit him.
Seah wanted to be admitted so that he would not be tempted to molest girls.
He climbed to the second floor ledge of the hospital building some four metres above the ground.
Seah climbed back to safety after a while and was restrained by nurses and a security officer.
He attempted suicide again at the IMH on Apr 2 this year.
This time he had a kitchen knife which he had bought from a minimart the day before.
Mr Tan said that his client, a formerly unemployed man, had recently managed to secure a place in an electrical technology course at the Institute of Technical Education.
He also said that Seah "deeply regrets his mistakes" and the entire judicial process had taught him a "very bitter lesson".
-CNA/ck
