‘Happy’ killer locked up indefinitely for stabbing Hong Kong mother to death in front of her daughters
Elderly attacker, who also slashed five-year-girl’s head and splashed flammable liquid on the father, is sent to a psychiatric centre
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 06 July, 2016, 8:54pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 06 July, 2016, 9:54pm
Chris Lau
An unemployed man who felt “happy” after killing a mother in front of her two young daughters in a lift and then returned home to set his flat alight will serve an indefinite spell at a psychiatric centre.
Ng Kim-hung, 72, was sent to Siu Lam Hospital on Wednesday after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Lo Pui-yin, described in the High Court as the “sorry hero of the tragic saga”.
He also admitted attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to Lo’s de facto husband, Lau Hon-sing, and another of wounding Lo’s five-year-old daughter.
Ng was originally charged with murder for the deadly attack on October 11, 2014, at the Po Tat Estate in Sau Mau Ping, but the charge was reduced on the basis of diminished responsibility as Ng suffered a delusional disorder.
The court heard that Ng, a loner, had developed “long-standing persecutory and referential delusions against his neighbours, security guards and the Housing Authority”.
After his arrest, he told police officers that Lo made noise every night so he deliberately killed her, which made him happy. The court also heard he burned things at his home in the hope that police would take him to the Castle Peak hospital.
Calling the attack unprovoked, Madam Justice Esther Toh Lye-ping said: “This is a very sad and heart-wrenching tragedy, and no sentence I impose could make it right.”
A hospital order was the best way to ensure the defendant received treatment while the public could be protected from attacks of a similar nature, she said.
Toh sent her regards to Lau and the two daughters, praising the girls for acting bravely.
Assistant director of public prosecutions Derek Lai Kim-wah said the two girls and Lo did not normally stay in Sau Mau Ping and had only moved there temporarily because the girls wanted to see their father.
On October 11, Lai said, the defendant suddenly turned up near the family and splashed flammable liquid on the father, trying to set him alight. When that failed, Ng chased him over a few floors before giving up.
But when Lo entered the lift with her two girls, Ng suddenly appeared and stabbed Lo repeatedly. He also slashed the younger daughter on the head.
Ng then returned to his flat to set things on fire. When police officers knocked on his door 45 minutes later, he admitted his crime and identified the knife he had used.
Lai said a forensic pathologist attributed Lo’s death to massive blood loss from the neck.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Psychiatric centre for ‘happy’ knifeman
