Teenager wore Japanese kendo helmet while friend stabbed his father to death, court hears
Ian Fok Lap-yin, 19, felt he had to kill his parents to save the world, prosecutor says on opening day of murder trial
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 19 August, 2014, 3:21pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 19 August, 2014, 3:22pm
Julie Chu [email protected]
Co-defendant Chan Man-ting arriving to court last March; (inset) a Japanese kendo helmet. Photo: Edward Wong
A teenager donned a Japanese kendo helmet before attacking his mother while his friend stabbed his father to death in the couple’s bed, a court heard this morning.
Ian Fok Lap-yin felt he was destined to save the world and needed to kill his parents, and enlisted school friend Chan Ming-tin to help, a prosecutor told the Court of First Instance.
Fok, 19, pleaded not guilty to the murder to his father Fok Lai-chi, 50, and the attempted murder of his mother Irene Fok at their home at Yuen Long in the early hours of March 16 last year.
Prosecutor Diane Crebbin told the jury that co-defendant Chan, 20, had pleaded guilty to the murder of Fok Lai-chi. The prosecution also agreed to leave an attempted murder charge against Chan on the court’s file, meaning he is unlikely to ever face it.
Crebbin said the younger Fok was the only son of his parents, and that the family had a good relationship.
The prosecutor gave details of Irene Fok’s account of the attack. She said that the night before the incident, Ian Fok was behaving normally.
At around 3am in the morning, the mother woke up to find a man wearing a Japanese kendo helmet complete with face mask sitting on her bed. He removed the mask and the mother saw that it was her son.
“[Ian Fok] grabbed his mother tightly by the neck with one hand and threatened her with a kitchen knife he was holding in his other hand,” Crebbin said.
She said the mother struggled with the son, saying: “What are you doing, I am your mother and you are my son.”
At the same moment, Irene Fok heard her husband shouting out to their son for help as Chan stabbed him to death, the court heard.
She said Ian Fok and Chan left the bedroom after the attack. The mother managed to leave the apartment and to sit down on the staircase outside, despite suffering serious stab injuries.
By this time neighbours had heard the commotion in the victims’ flat and had already called the police.
When officers arrived, they found Ian Fok and Chan running away from the apartment in heavily bloodstained clothing.
Ian Fok told police he had seen “a male and female shadow” entering the apartment and attacking his parents.
The pair were arrested after police spoke to Irene Fok.
“[Ian Fok] said that he felt he was destined to save the world and that in doing so needed to kill his parents,” Crebbin told the jury.
“[He] admitted that it was him who had made the plan to kill both parents and that he had later enlisted the help of Chan to carry out the plan.
“He also admitted that after the planned double assassination he and Chan had agreed to pretend to chase after the culprits and put the blame on two fictitious people,” the prosecutor said.
The trial continues in the afternoon.
