The facts which he has admitted to show that he was, at the time of the offence, working in a produce factory in an industrial complex in Tai Po. The accused was in the position in fact of supervising one of the production lines. He had resigned on 2 July 2013. His last day of work was supposed to have been on 1 August 2013.
On the morning of 31 July 2013 the defendant, as usual, went to work by boarding the company bus together with his fellow workers. The defendant during the journey produced a chopper and attacked his fellow workers and he wounded the seven victims of these seven charges.
The different injuries in fact have been stated when the facts were read out and I do not need to repeat them but they were serious injuries which required hospital treatment.
Eventually, the coach was stopped on the side of the road and the police were summoned and subsequently the defendant was arrested. When he was cautioned the defendant said that he had been bullied by those women at work and that he therefore took the chance that day to attack them as it was his last day.
Some minor wounds were found on the accused and after a psychiatric assessment he was diagnosed with delusional disorder and admitted to Castle Peak Hospital.
As Mr Whitehouse has pointed out, the defendant is from a very humble background and has actually, through his hard work, made something of himself. For a man who only had up to Primary 3 education, he had come to Hong Kong and worked his way up to his last job which, as I have said, he was supervising a production line.
As Mr Whitehouse pointed out, unfortunately he was not happy at home and in his workplace and perhaps that might have exacerbated the mental problem that was already there in the defendant’s mind.
Before sentencing today I called for further psychiatric reports to be made of the defendant. Both psychiatrists had said that they have noticed improvement in the defendant but he still requires inpatient treatment as he could be highly, “unpredictable under the influence of psychotic symptoms”. So both psychiatrists recommend that this court sentence him to the Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre under section 45 of the Mental Health Ordinance.
Having looked at the background of the case and also the social enquiry report of the defendant’s family circumstances, and the psychiatric reports, I am of the opinion that a sentence which would help the defendant and also the community is to do as is recommended by both psychiatrists, that is to order that he be kept under the hospital order under section 45 of the Mental Health Ordinance.