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HCCC 438/2023
[2025] HKCFI 2355
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
CRIMINAL CASE NO 438 OF 2023
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| Date: |
16 May 2025 at 12.41 pm |
| Present: |
Mr Lui Tsz-ming Ira, ADPP, and Mr Chan Hing-man Raymond, SPP(Ag) of the Department of Justice, for HKSAR |
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Ms Diane Mervyne Crebbin, instructed by King & Co, assigned by DLA, for the accused |
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Transcript of the Audio Recording
of the Sentence in the above Case
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COURT: The defendant, Chung Sze-hong, was charged with one count of murder. The victim was the defendant’s elder brother, Chung Sze-on. The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge but offered to plead guilty to manslaughter by reason of provocation, which was rejected by the prosecution. The defendant therefore stood trial for the offence of murder before me together with a jury. The jury unanimously found the defendant guilty of murder.
This is a tragic case involving a family tragedy. The defendant who was then a 64-year-old man with no criminal conviction, killed his older brother on 6 February 2022, inside the family ancestral home. The defendant had been unhappy with the way the deceased treated their mother, who was advanced in age, over 90, and suffered from dementia. On the day in question a dispute ensued over the care of the mother and the defendant used a knife he had on his person to cut and stab various parts of the deceased’s body. A stab wound on the deceased’s neck penetrating the chest cavity and cutting the apex of the right lung was the fatal wound causing the death of the deceased.
After the killing, the defendant wheeled his mother to outside his own home and he wrote a suicide note and ingested pesticide before dialling 999 to report the death of the deceased and to ask for assistance for his mother. He had also WhatsApped and called the helper, Padua, to return as soon as possible.
The defendant did not try to hide or run away. He gave directions to the ambulancemen how to get to Ha Tin Liu Ha Village and where to find his mother. He was physically sick after ingesting the pesticide and was sent to hospital for treatment. The sole cut on his left index finger was sutured.
The defendant was found guilty of murder. There is only one sentence I can pass under the law, and that is one of life imprisonment. There is nothing else I can do, even though this is a very tragic case.
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