bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Man, 82, killed his wife and two neighbours while trying to teach his son a lesson, court told

An elderly man killed three people, including his wife, when a plot to blow up his flat  to teach his son a lesson went horribly wrong, a court heard yesterday.

Prosecution lawyer Anna Lai  said Chan Kuk-sun, 82, told police he cut the rubber hose to the gas cooker and tampered with the front-door grille so his son's key would not work and he would have to use the door bell, which would spark an explosion.

She said Chan claimed he did this to teach a lesson to his son, who had been banned from eating with the family for beating Chan's young grandson.

'He decided to give his son a warning, to let LPG burn the house and make his son pay for decorations and incurred costs,' Ms Lai said.

Chan has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder in the Court of First Instance.

His alleged victims in the explosion on October 30, 2002, were his wife, Siu Yee-yau, 78, and neighbours Ngan Hau-lan, 74, and Sze Chui-ngor, 50.

Before the case opened, Mr Justice Louis Tong Po-sun  told the jury the prosecution had rejected Chan's offer to plead guilty to manslaughter over his wife's death.

They also heard that Chan blamed fire services for the death of his two elderly neighbours from surrounding flats C and D on the 15th floor of Block 2, Tsui Chuk Garden, in Wong Tai Sin.

Ms  Lai told the court that Chan was picked up in Macau shortly after the explosion.

She said that in a second interview, he said he had also fought with his wife, and on the morning of the explosion, hit her over the head three times with a hammer until she was unconscious.

She said Chan told authorities he left her there and went to Macau.

'He said he knew an explosion would happen but did not know it would be so fierce.'

Ms Lai said that when the son returned home at about 3pm, he smelled LPG fumes. When he failed to open the door, he contacted authorities and the caretaker.

All neighbours were notified and told to stay inside their flats while the electricity was switched off for the entire block, Ms Lai said.

She said one fireman only stepped a couple of feet into the room when he saw a person hunched over in the kitchen near the gas cooker.

As he turned around to alert his fellow firemen, there was a huge explosion, Ms Lai said.

She said the jury would hear from Ngan's daughter, who, upon hearing the blast, rushed out of the bedroom to find her mother lying on the ground with blood coming out of her mouth.

Moments before, Ngan was sitting in their living room with the door grille closed but the flat's door open, Ms Lai said.

Ngan was declared dead on arrival at hospital.

Another victim, Sze, was found alone in her flat. She was taken to hospital but died that evening.

The pathologist found deep imprints of the front door's security chain and doorknob on Sze's body - an indication of the blast's power.

Siu's body was only discovered under a refrigerator door in the kitchen at 7pm, after authorities realised she had not been accounted for.

A postmortem examination found a large number of injuries, including fractures to her skull and facial bones, leading to the conclusion she was facing the direction of the explosion, Ms Lai said.

Scientists were unable to determine what ignited the explosion, she added.

The trial continues on Monday before Mr Justice Tong.



Fatal flat blast 'meant to be warning'