A four-year-old boy who was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by his mother's live-in lover was found to have traces of sleeping pills in his blood, a court heard yesterday.
Forensic pathologist Dr Bobby Shum Shui-fung, who conducted an autopsy on Law Shiu-wai, found traces of two drugs.
Dr Shum said the cause of death could not be ascertained because Shiu-wai's body had decomposed. But he told the Court of First Instance he could not exclude suffocation or drowning.
Lam Shing-tak, 31, denies kidnap and murder. The prosecution claims he murdered his girlfriend's son because he could not stand having to compete for her love.
The court also heard yesterday from chemist Dr Betty Law Man-yee, who said Shiu-wai's DNA was found on a surgical glove seized from his Yuen Long home.
Shiu-wai's body was found floating in Gin Drinkers Bay, near Tsing Yi, on July 3, 1999, three days after he went missing from Wong Chuk Hang Estate, Aberdeen. Dr Shum said yesterday the boy had been tied up with adhesive tape.