Judge orders fitness trial for man accused of killing B.C. Mountie in 2022

Pallbearers in red serge carry RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang's casket to a hearse after her regimental funeral, in Richmond, B.C., on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. The 31-year-old officer was stabbed to death two weeks ago while she helped a City of Burnaby employee issue an eviction notice to a man living in a tent at a local park. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

VANCOUVER — A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has ordered a three-day fitness trial for the man accused of killing RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang more than three years ago.

Jongwon Ham — who appeared virtually at a hearing in Vancouver — is charged with first-degree murder in Yang’s October 2022 killing.

Justice Michael Tammen had ordered a fitness assessment on the day Ham’s judge-alone trial was set to begin earlier this month, and the psychiatric report was submitted on Monday.

Tammen ordered the fitness hearing to take place on Feb. 6, 11 and 12, and issued an interim publication ban over details discussed on Tuesday, including about contents of the psychiatric report.

A 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.

This report by Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press, was first published Jan. 27, 2026.