A mother-of-two who tried to kill herself and her six-year-old son by burning a wok full of charcoal in the family flat was jailed for three years yesterday.
Mr Justice Colin Jackson said the task of sentencing had been 'extremely difficult and unpleasant' as he felt Chan Siu-kuen, 33, had been punished already through the forced separation from her children.
'A sentence of imprisonment is entirely appropriate in the present case for one overriding reason. That is deterrence to other people who have in mind to do the same,' Mr Justice Jackson said.
Branding it a 'tragic case', the Court of First Instance judge said: 'No doubt the defendant had plainly been under great stress and reached a breaking point on September 25, 2000.'
Chan was found guilty on Tuesday of the attempted murder of her son. She had burned a wok full of charcoal - which gives off deadly fumes - at her Sheung Shui home on September 25 last year. She had denied one charge of attempted murder.
The court had heard Chan, a factory worker, encountered financial difficulties after she and her husband, Shea Kam-sim, lost their jobs last year. Before that, Chan had been working night shifts of up to 12 hours and caring for her son and daughter, 12, in the daytime.
She was forced to borrow money to support the family. Her husband offered neither moral nor financial support and ended up criticising her for running into debt.
