'Stress of Paul Chan's lies made twins anorexic'

The defamation trial of development minister Paul Chan Mo-po and his wife heard yesterday that the couple's groundless allegations that two of their daughter's schoolmates had cheated in an exam had caused the accused twins to develop anorexia.

Businessman Carl Lu told the Court of First Instance that his children, Jonathan and Caitlin, now aged 20, had also come out in rashes and suffered sleep problems as a result of the stress caused by the allegations.

Chan and Frieda Hui Po-ming are being sued by Lu and the twins for sending allegedly defamatory emails to at least 14 people on December 1 and December 15, 2011.

Lu is a member of the Chinese International School's board of governors, while his son was the head boy at the time. Two investigations at the North Point school found Jonathan and Caitlin Lu had not cheated.

The court had earlier heard that one of the emails sent by Hui was titled "Head boy cheating".

Lu said his own credibility was dealt a blow, while his son Jonathan was ostracised.

"It was clear that Jonathan was anxious all the time," said Lu, when examined by his senior counsel Robert Whitehead.

Lu also told how the family were put under immense pressure when asked to disclose Jonathan's name in an email exonerating him that was sent to the whole school on December 16. In Jonathan's case, "the truth had to be told even at the pain of disclosing Jonathan's identity", said Lu.

The next day, however, Lu received an email from the school principal saying that an anonymous person had notified Harvard University of the allegation. His son had applied for a place at the American university.

"I was devastated," Lu said, adding that he did not immediately inform his son of the development as the news would have further ruined the twins' birthday, on December 18.

Later, when it came to the school's graduation ceremony, Lu said, Chan and Hui left ahead of his son's speech. Lu called it a "public display of disrespect".

He said his son had been targeted because he was a high achiever, attracting "jealousy" and "animosity".

He also believed some students were annoyed over an "honour code" Jonathan was trying to introduce to gauge student conduct.

Jason Pow SC, for Chan and Hui, told the seven-person jury to disregard the Harvard email as it was not written by his clients.

He suggested to Lu in cross-examination that Hui was showing a mother's trust in her daughter when reporting the cheating allegation, just as Lu showed a father's trust in believing his son.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Anthony To Kwai-fung.