Hong Kong husband and wife seek court order restraining ex-lover from harassing them
Couple say the woman brought them psychological suffering, fear and humiliation due to harassment including death threats and uninvited home visits
A school teacher is being sued by her one-time lover and his wife who claimed she brought them psychological suffering, fear and humiliation due to incessant harassment that included death threats and uninvited home visits over the past five years.
Tong Tsz-cun and Cheong Yuet-ning are seeking damages and a court order to restrain Lai Wing-yee from making further contact, publishing libellous claims and hiring private investigators to conduct surveillance on them.
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Their writ filed with the High Court revealed the two parties first crossed paths in 2011, when Tong worked with Lai in the same school in Tin Shui Wai. The pair quickly developed an intimate relationship, even though Tong had a girlfriend he had been dating since 2007.
But the affair did not last, and by late November 2012, Tong decided to break things off.
Yet their relationship grew complicated as Tong soon learned that Lai was pregnant. The writ claimed Lai threatened to tell Cheong about her pregnancy if Tong did not treat her well. The pair continued their affair after Lai aborted the child.
In March 2014, Tong was told that Lai was pregnant again and that she would get an abortion in September, a month after her wedding with her current husband.
But news of her pregnancy continued to haunt him as Lai went to Tong and Cheong’s wedding in November to tell him she was pregnant again.
Tong, now a securities dealer, said he repeatedly suggested breaking up with Lai in 2015 but she refused. That year, according to the writ, saw the birth of their child as well as Lai threatening to kill Cheong. It was also alleged that Lai wrote to the principal of the school where Cheong was teaching to complain that she had misused her sick leave.
The writ claimed Lai harassed Cheong directly the following year, sending insulting messages and naked photos of herself with Tong. Lai was also said to have visited Tong’s home to repeatedly ring their doorbell and followed him to work, even after he changed jobs without telling her.
Tong eventually called the police in April last year after she attacked him.
Later that day he drew up his first “contract” with Lai, in which he agreed to pay her maintenance fees in exchange for her not harassing him any more. The pair later drew up two more agreements to further limit interaction with Lai. One lasted just one day before it was breached.
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When Lai learned that Cheong was pregnant in November last year, she threatened to “exasperate” Cheong every day until her child was aborted. She also resumed sending naked photos.
At one point, Cheong was sent to Tuen Mun Hospital because she was frightened by Lai “oppressively” insulting her.
When Tong tried to avoid her, Lai stuck posters with defamatory content outside the gate to his home, the writ said.
She also threatened to kill him in January, prompting police to press charges.
“As a result of the continuous harassment and intimidation by the defendant, both of the plaintiffs are suffering from depression and anxiety disorders, with psychological suffering and functional impairment from the nuisances,” the writ said.
“The plaintiffs are required continuation of psychiatric care.”
