'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.