Paragraph 10 reads: “Lo Wai-fan, a psychiatrist at East
Kowloon General Out-patient Clinic, said she met Lau in late October last
year and prescribed her two-week’s worth of sleeping and
anti-depression drugs. However, Lau turned up at the clinic on
November 6 – a week before her scheduled follow-up session – saying she was
suffering from insomnia and worrying about her son.”
Paragraphs three
through five read: “But divorcee Lau Hoi-chu, 43, was released from Kwai
Chung Hospital on November 25 last year – two days before her mainland
friend Chen Shaozhen found Lau hanging in a bedroom next to the body of
her son, Law Chung-yan, 16.
Her daughter, Law Yu-ching, 13, was
unconscious in another room in a flat in Lok On House, Tsz Lok Estate, Tsz Wan
Shan.
All three were certified dead by paramedics. The children were
apparently strangled.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=90995&sid=26191271&con_type=3
Tormented mom told carers `she was ready
to kill’ –
Diana Lee
Tuesday,
November 24, 2009
A mentally-disturbed mother who was found hanged in
her flat near the strangled bodies of her two children told a psychiatrist she
“wanted to take her son’s life and then her own” three weeks before they died, a
coroner’s inquest was told yesterday.
Concerned she might injure herself
and others, she was sent to hospital for compulsory observation.
But
divorcee Lau Hoi-chu, 43, was released from Kwai Chung Hospital on November 25
last year – two days before her mainland friend Chen Shaozhen found Lau hanging
in a bedroom next to the body of her son, Law Chung-yan, 16.
Her
daughter, Law Yu-ching, 13, was unconscious in another room in a flat in Lok On
House, Tsz Lok Estate, Tsz Wan Shan.
All three were certified dead by
paramedics. The children were apparently strangled.
Testifying before a
jury of five, Chen said she took care of the children when Lau was in hospital.
She had a meal with the family shortly before their deaths and Lau
appeared to be at peace with her children.
Among the exhibits presented
in court was a calendar on which was scribbled “afraid to be admitted to
hospital again.”
In a written statement, Lau’s sister-in-law, Chen
Jianqing, said she moved into the flat on November 23 to help look after the
children together with Chen Shaozhen but on November 26 Lau told her not to
spend the night in the flat.
Lo Wai-fan, a psychiatrist at East Kowloon
General Out-patient Clinic, said she met Lau in late October last year and
prescribed her two-week’s worth of sleeping and anti-depression drugs. However,
Lau turned up at the clinic on November 6 – a week before her scheduled
follow-up session – saying she was suffering from insomnia and worrying about
her son.
Lau’s son, a Secondary Four student, had just been put on
probation for shoplifting.
“Lau was emotional and believed there was no
hope for the future. She said she wanted to end her son’s life before she ended
hers,” Lo said.
Fearing she might hurt herself and others, Lo had her
admitted to Kwai Chung Hospital under the Mental Health Ordinance for compulsory
psychiatric observation of at least seven days.
Kwong Lap-kuen, a
medical social worker, observed Lau and agreed with Lo’s diagnosis.
Chan
Wai-ping, an assistant social worker in the Social Welfare Department, said she
talked with Lau for more than an hour on November 19, during which she was calm
though she did express concern about finding a secondary school for her
daughter.
“She said it was just out of impulse when she said she wanted
to hurt herself and her son. She regretted what she had said, as she couldn’t
take care of her children while she was in hospital,” Chan said.
Lau
also wrote notes to remind herself of a “better tomorrow” and that “issues
concerning the growing up of the children do not equate to failure on my part.”
Lau’s ex-husband, Law Chi-pun, said he had not contacted her since 2006,
nor given her alimony.
