CRIMINAL CASE NO. 186 OF 2011
COURT: Early on the morning of 22 July last year, you returned to your family home. Events occurred in that flat as a result of which your mother and your 12‑year‑old sister died. You accept that you were responsible for the acts which caused their death in a criminal sense.
You were charged with their murder but admitted having caused their deaths at a time when your responsibility was diminished by virtue of the state of your health. In light of the four psychiatric reports which I have received, two of them commissioned on your behalf and two provided by the prosecution, those pleas were entirely appropriate. The prosecution indicated, once it had received all the medical reports, that it was prepared to accept those pleas.
In the light of the material available to me I was satisfied that the provisions of section 3 of the Homicide Ordinance did apply in your case. You were consequently convicted of two offences of manslaughter by virtue of diminished responsibility.
I do not intend to burden either you or your father further with going into the details of what actually occurred. This was, in the true sense of the word, a tragedy.
All four of the psychiatrists who examined you since these events expressed the opinion that at the time you were suffering from schizophrenia. It seems from the reports, which are very detailed, as well as letters from your school and statements in the prosecution file which I have had the opportunity of reading, that there were no overt signs of any illness.
You seem to have been a good student and an entirely unremarkable, in the kind sense of that word, young man. Your illness triggered this explosion which led to these dreadful events. It seems to me, on the information before me, that the entirely appropriate method of dealing with sentence is to order that you be detained under the Mental Health Ordinance so that you are able to receive treatment for your illness.
I have to be satisfied pursuant to the provisions of section 45(1) of the ordinance that this is the appropriate, the most suitable method of disposing of the case. It seems to me to have a number of benefits to follow this course. Firstly, you will be removed from society whilst you are receiving treatment which will protect society; secondly, you will be treated for your conditions; and, thirdly, you will only be released from custody at a time when those with expertise in this field form the opinion that it is safe for you to be allowed back into society.
The consensus amongst the psychiatrists is that you should be so detained for an indeterminate period and that is a view which I accept. I am satisfied from the report of Dr Ho that arrangements have been made for you to be admitted pursuant to the provisions of section 45 of the Mental Health Ordinance to Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre.
In the circumstances, that is the order that I make that in respect of each of the two counts you be detained in the Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre for an indefinite period.
That order is made pursuant to section 45 of the Mental Health Ordinance.