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Mui mentally fit when she made will, says psychiatrist

Late Canto-pop diva Anita Mui Yim-fong was of sound mind when she made a will in hospital and there was no evidence she had the mental disease that her treating doctor suspected, a psychiatrist said yesterday.

Edwin Yu Chi-shing told a court hearing into the validity of the will, drawn up in early November 2003, that there was insufficient medical evidence to conclude that Mui suffered from hepatic encephalopathy - a syndrome that damages the brain and nervous system due to acute or chronic liver dysfunction.

Mui, who died of cervical cancer on December 30, 2003, signed the will on December 3 in the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital. On December 4, her treating doctor, oncologist Peter Teo, wrote in his medical notes that he suspected she had hepatic encephalopathy because of her elevated blood ammonia level, which he called an indicator of the brain syndrome.

Dr Teo also noted Mui's 'drowsiness and interrupted speech'.

But Dr Yu - who did not treat the star during her stay in the hospital from November 27 to December 30 - told Mr Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung in the Court of First Instance probate hearing that the available medical evidence was insufficient to confirm the brain syndrome.

The will left the late singer's entire estate, now estimated to be worth HK$100 million, in a trust to be managed by HSBC - allegedly because Mui feared her mother would squander it, the court heard earlier. The trust provides her mother, Tam Mei-kam, with HK$70,000 a month.

Ms Tam, 84, is contesting the validity of the will, claiming that her late daughter's mind was impaired by her illness, which prevented her from making a reasonable decision about the estate.

Cross-examined by Ms Tam's lawyer, Chan Chi-hung SC, Dr Yu also rejected a conclusion by neurologist Edmund Woo Kin-wai, who had said there was clinical and laboratory evidence of hepatic encephalopathy as early as December 3.

The hearing will continue today.

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