Fitness trial begins for man accused of killing B.C. Mountie Shaelyn Yang in 2022

The hearing to determine if a man accused of killing RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang is fit to stand trial has begun in the BC Supreme Court in Vancouver.

Jongwon Ham, who appeared at the hearing Friday wearing a grey suit and white sneakers, is charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Yang in October 2022.

The three-day hearing comes after Justice Michael Tammen ordered a fitness assessment on the day Ham’s judge-alone trial was set to begin last month.

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An interim publication ban temporarily prevents the reporting of evidence at the fitness hearing, which is scheduled to continue next week.

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, and does not examine their mental state at the time the alleged crime was committed.

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

B.C.’s police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office, has said the man in the tent was shot and wounded by Yang.

In a statement in December 2022, the office said its chief civilian director determined there were no reasonable grounds to believe an officer committed an offence in the incident.

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