Jail for throttling girlfriend in jealous rage
Two faces of Dobie Lam Kwok-keung were on show yesterday: the jealous man who throttled his ex-girlfriend unconscious in a sudden fit of rage; and the friendly security guard and kind, honest son who gave up time to help the elderly.
Lam, 47, was sent to prison for 41/2 years after pleading guilty to one charge of causing grievous bodily harm to Kwong Fung-shun, 48.
'He was of good character and devoted,' his barrister, Shahmim Khattak, told the Court of First Instance. 'The present incident is a single fall from grace.'
But Mrs Justice Verina Bokhary said what Lam had done was very dangerous, as he had not stopped squeezing Kwong's neck until she lost consciousness.
'Although it was not planned beforehand and although it was brought on by the sudden onset of rage, what you did was very serious,' the judge said in handing down the jail term.
Speaking in mitigation, Khattak said Lam's supervisor had described him as a hard-working, friendly employee who received 'deep compliments' from residents.
Lam's mother wrote that her son would go to Sai Kung to help the elderly when he was young.
Prosecutor Harish Melwaney earlier told the court that in March, Kwong changed a lock on the flat they had shared in Tai Po so Lam could not get in.
He returned in April to collect some belongings and became enraged when he saw clothing he thought she was going to wear to meet another man the next day.
They quarrelled and he grabbed her neck, squeezing for two to three minutes.
He stopped when she started to lose consciousness and vomit and performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her, but when she remained unconscious, he dialled 999.
The court heard earlier that Kwong was still suffering from the attack. She had difficulty controlling the movements of her arms and hands, and needed treatment at neurological, psychological and ear, nose and throat clinics. She also had little chance of finding work.
