Decorator in chopping spree claims mental illness

A decorator who claims to have mental problems due to his use of amphetamines pleaded guilty yesterday to wounding four strangers in a two-day chopping spree in Tseung Kwan O.

After the random attacks by Kwan Ping-wai, 31, all four victims needed hospital treatment, including one whose arm was cut to the bone, the Court of First Instance heard.

Senior public prosecutor Edward Brook said Kwan assaulted the men on the Po Lam and Hau Tak housing estates, in Metro City Plaza II and the Hau Tak Shopping Centre on October 2 and 3 last year.

When arrested, Kwan said he did not know the victims - Lam Hing-nam, 53, Chan Tsz-kit, 18, Tung Kwai-hin, 50, and Wong Chi-hong, 46

'The defendant did not know the victims and did not know why he chopped them,' Brooks said.

Three of the men were attacked while walking, and one was waiting for a bus.