CRIMINAL CASE NO. 402 OF 2009
COURT: The defendant, aged 50, went to trial charged with the murder of her 78-year-old mother. The defendant was found not guilty of murder but was convicted by a majority of five to two of the jurors of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility.
The prosecution were at all times prepared to accept such a plea. The trial proceeded on the basis that the defendant sought a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. By returning their verdict of manslaughter, the jury have rejected the defence of insanity.
The defendant, it was common ground, at the time of the offence and for some years previously, had suffered from schizophrenia. She lived with her mother and with her brother in a flat in Lok Man Sun Chuen in Hung Hom. All three suffered from schizophrenia though it was controlled by medication.
Some weeks prior to the defendant’s killing of her mother, it appears the defendant had ceased taking her medication and her condition deteriorated. On 5 May 2009, the day of the killing, the defendant’s brother had left the family flat to seek help for the defendant at the Kowloon Hospital where the defendant had received outpatient treatment. It was in his absence that the killing occurred. The attack was horrific; the defendant used three hammers to inflict numerous comminuted fractures to the skull of the deceased.
When she was first taken into custody and examined by psychiatrists, the defendant was found to be not fit to plead. A year elapsed before she was able to go to trial, and matters did then proceed.
I have had the benefit of the evidence of two psychiatrists, Dr Yu Wai-tak and Dr Cheung Hung-kin, both of whom have provided me with supplementary reports for the purposes of sentence, dated 1 February and 7 February 2011 respectively. Additionally, I have had reports provided to me by Dr S H Lui and Dr Amy Liu, both dated 9 February 2011. Drs Liu and Lui are visiting psychiatrists at the Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre.
All four psychiatrists agree that the defendant suffers from severe schizophrenia, sometimes described by them as paranoid schizophrenia, which was evidenced by florid psychotic symptoms, including hallucinations and delusions. At the time of the offence, the defendant provided them with a consistent explanation for her actions to the effect she thought her mother was possessed by a ghost and intended her harm.
There is general agreement amongst the psychiatrists that the defendant’s prognosis is very uncertain. She has had a history of relapses, has poor insight into her condition resulting in unsatisfactory drug treatment compliance. She is and will potentially remain a danger to the community.
For those reasons, each of the four doctors recommends a Hospital Order pursuant to section 45 of the Mental Health Ordinance, Chapter 136, placing the defendant in a psychiatric centre for an unspecified period. I agree with that assessment and find no reason in this case not to follow the advice of the four psychiatrists.
The defendant was plainly severely mentally ill at the time she killed her mother. Her mental illness was of a degree to very greatly reduce her responsibility for her actions.
I am satisfied that the appropriate course is to order pursuant to section 45 of the Ordinance, the requirements of that section having been satisfied, that a Hospital Order issue authorising the admission and detention of the
defendant in the Correctional Services Department Psychiatric Centre at Siu Lam for an indefinite period.