Accused B.C. cop killer wants to be found mentally fit for trial, lawyer tells court

VANCOUVER — The lawyer for the man accused of killing of RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang in a Burnaby, B.C., park in 2022 says he wants to be found mentally fit for trial.

Jongwon Ham, who appeared at the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver on Monday wearing a black shirt and grey suit, is charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Yang.

Ham’s fitness hearing previously heard from two psychiatrists who Crown prosecutor Colleen Smith said concluded Ham suffers from a psychotic disorder and shared the opinion that he is unfit for trial.

But defence lawyer Caroline Senini says her client does not believe he has delusions, and it will be up to the judge to decide whether or not he does and, if so, “what that means for his decision-making in the conduct of his defence.”

Smith previously told the hearing that the Crown will not be taking a position on Ham’s fitness, but that he has a nuanced understanding of the trial process.

She said the evidence of both psychiatrists is “insufficient for a finding of unfitness alone” and the “real question” of fitness will revolve around the evidence from Ham himself.

Ham has been a vocal presence at the fitness hearing, but his testimony is the subject of a publication ban.

Dr. Mandeep Saini conducted six interviews with Ham in January while Dr. Mario Moscovici, who was called by the defence, conducted a single two-hour interview.

A fitness hearing, or fitness trial, allows a judge to determine if the accused has the mental capacity to understand the charges and is able to meaningfully participate in their own defence. It does not examine their mental state at the time the alleged crime was committed.

The hearing was ordered by Justice Michael Tammen on the day Ham’s judge-alone trial was set to begin in January.

Tammen is scheduled to make his decision on Ham’s fitness to stand trial on April 20.

Yang died when she tried to speak to a man sheltering in a tent in Broadview Park in Burnaby, B.C., on Oct. 18, 2022.

RCMP have said Yang was a mental health and homeless outreach officer who had joined the police three years before her death.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2026.

Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press