Hong Kong man who slashed colleague with meat cleaver sentenced to 4 months in psychiatric hospital
- Judge accepts defendant Cho King-chun initiated the attack because of a relapse of paranoid schizophrenia
- The 39-year-old had blamed his colleague, Choy Pak-fung, for costing him his job and attacked the latter with a cleaver
A former Hong Kong government contract clerk who used a cleaver to slash a colleague he blamed for costing him his job has been sentenced to four months in a psychiatric hospital, after a judge accepted the attack was the result of a relapse of the defendant’s mental illness.
Cho King-chun, 39, had pleaded guilty at the District Court earlier this month in relation to the attack, which took place at the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department headquarters in Kowloon Bay on August 31 last year.
The court heard the defendant, who had worked in the position since 2014, was frustrated by his supervisor’s decision to end his contract and allocate all his job duties to his colleagues, rendering him redundant.
When he last went to work on August 31, he brought along the cleaver and two pairs of scissors, initially hoping to injure his supervisor, who was identified only as Davis in the prosecution’s summary of facts.
Upon learning Davis was not in the office that afternoon, Cho instead targeted his colleague, Choy Pak-fung.
Cho blamed Choy for his predicament and slashed him with the cleaver, leaving the victim with wounds on his face, chest and hands, as well as scratches on his scalp.
