Mentally ill businesswoman admits to tying up, repeatedly cutting live-in lover
A businesswoman suffering from depression admitted burning pots of charcoal while her lover slept, tying him up and cutting him more than 20 times until his intestines were exposed, the Court of First Instance heard yesterday.
Bonnie Cheng Yan-yin, 40, told police she had wanted to kill her live-in lover, Tang Kin-shun, 33, and then commit suicide after she had taken drugs prescribed by a psychiatrist.
Charged with attempted murder, Cheng pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of wounding with intent. The offence took place on March 27 last year in Tai Po.
Senior government counsel Jackson Poon, prosecuting with counsel Teresa Kam, said Cheng, who was married and ran a property agency, began seeing Mr Tang in February 1995.
But their relationship was frequently troubled and they often talked about ending it. Cheng began taking drugs for depression in 1998 and had attempted suicide several times.
On March 24 last year, Cheng was upset that Mr Tang had bought a flat without telling her. The prosecution said that four days later, as the victim was lying in bed not fully awake, he noticed charcoal burning inside his room and that he was being tied up. When Cheng began cutting him, he shouted in pain: 'I don't want to die. Somebody help me'.