Son had ‘change of heart’ during knife attack which left his father dead: court
Man on trial for deadly attack on parents ‘called it an assassination’
A man on trial for murder after attacking his father and mother as they slept told police he was carrying out an assassination in order to bring to life a fictional character he had dreamed up, a court heard yesterday.
Christoffer Ian Lee Fok Lap-yin, 20, told officers he had been absorbed in a fantasy world for years and even had different messaging-service accounts so he could talk to himself in character. In his fantasy, he would take on an evil organisation and saving the world, the court heard.
The video of Fok's interview with police was shown yesterday, on the second day of his trial in the Court of First Instance. It followed his arrest on March 16 last year, just hours after his father, Fok Lai-chi, 50, was killed and his mother, Irene Fok, was stabbed.
Fok told officers: "I had thrown myself mentally into the character set in my story; already in a situation that I had no control over myself, I was turning the character into reality."
In order to make this character real, he planned the "assassination" about six months earlier and enlisted his former schoolmate Chan Ming-tin. He was notoriously "extreme" and would serve as "the knife" who would do the actual killing.
Chan, also 20, has pleaded guilty to murder. Ian Fok denies one count of murder and one of attempted murder.
Fok said in the interview that he was aware he had problems because he had done some research into psychology, but he did not want to worry his parents, so kept the matter to himself.
He told police Chan had wanted to do something "extraordinary" and, when he put the plan to Chan, his schoolmate agreed to carry it out.
Fok told police he devised 90 per cent of the plan, and the pair discussed details such as what sleeping position the victims should be in.
They put their plan into action on the night of March 15, Fok said in the interview. He gave Chan a set of keys and prepared knives and clothing for him.
Chan arrived at the Fok family home in Pat Heung, Yuen Long, at about 2am on March 16, Fok told police. They waited until Fok's father was asleep face-up before launching the attack.
Ian Fok said in the interview that Chan stabbed his father in the throat while he pointed a knife at his mother. His father shouted for help and struck back at Chan and his mother kept asking what had happened. Fok said she told him: "I am your mother and you are my son. I love you." She also made references to the Bible.
"At that time, I felt conscience and evil were struggling in my mind," Fok told police. He said he was confused and cried and shouted a lot.
He told police he had been a good, normal child in his parents' eyes, and that his parents had been supportive of him.
"I felt my heart was not supporting me in this, but I had put myself into the character and my body just kept going," he told officers. "When I knew that the police were opening the door, when the light in the staircase shone into the room, I felt like I was saved."
The court earlier heard that the father sustained more than 100 stab wounds and died that morning, while the mother sustained serious stab wounds over her head and body.
The officer who was first on the scene recalled Fok asking his mother: "Irene, are you ok?"
Sergeant Tang Chi-kai told the court he brought Fok back to the crime scene to reconstruct the incident. He said that, after filming the interview, Fok kept banging his head on a closet and shouting "don't hit me". It took four officers to bring him under control and send him to hospital.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Peter Line today.
