By Brian Wong

Copyright scmp

A Hong Kong man has been sentenced to an indefinite period at a psychiatric hospital for stabbing his father to death while experiencing schizophrenia.
The High Court on Friday accepted two psychiatrists’ recommendations to impose a hospital order on Lee Man-lok, 35, on a count of manslaughter based on diminished responsibility.
The court accepted Lee’s plea in June after psychiatric evidence showed his mental illness had substantially impaired his ability to make rational judgments and exercise self-control when he fatally assaulted his 78-year-old father, Lee Hok-choi, on October 11, 2021.
It also heard that Lee, who was staying at a rehabilitation hostel in Nam Cheong at the time, had stopped working as a clerk, as well as contacting his family, and started skipping medication before the offence.
He stabbed and slashed his father more than 80 times with two knives he had originally bought as gifts for the deceased, following a quarrel over work issues at the family home in Kwai Chung’s Yin Lai Court.
Police and paramedics arrived at the scene around 4.45pm that day to find the father lying unconscious in a pool of blood in the living room and the defendant sitting on a sofa with two bloodstained fruit knives beside him.
The victim was pronounced dead at hospital in the early hours of the following day after his other family members agreed to stop resuscitating him.
An autopsy found more than 80 cut and stab wounds on the body of the deceased, most of which were on the head and upper limbs.
The son was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder when he first consulted a psychiatrist in 2009. He was further diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia around 2016 after being admitted to Kwai Chung Hospital for suicidal thoughts.
He was sentenced to inpatient psychiatric treatment in 2018 for attacking his elder sister with a meat chopper, believing he needed to do so to protect himself.
Two updated psychiatric reports showed the defendant had displayed active psychotic symptoms due to his long-standing and severe schizophrenia, constantly living under various delusions, including that he would die at the age of 35, that the deceased was not his biological father and that his mind was being controlled by 5G and other advanced technology.
The psychiatrists said Lee poorly responded even to a high dosage of antipsychotic drugs, adding that he would require continuous inpatient treatment.
Mr Justice Anthony Kwok Kai-on agreed that the defendant’s severe and untreated ailment required ongoing and compulsory hospitalisation.
“I find that the most suitable method of disposing of the case is by imposing a hospital order for an unspecified period,” he said.
Manslaughter is punishable by up to life imprisonment, but those convicted based on diminished responsibility can receive alternative sentences, such as a hospital order or probation, depending on the circumstances of the case.