Mentally disabled Hong Kong woman who gouged out her sister’s eye sent to psychiatric hospital after court rules her unfit to stand trial

A mentally disabled Hong Kong woman who gouged out her sister’s eye as she slept was on Tuesday sent to a psychiatric hospital after she was ruled unfit to stand trial.

Ma Wai-king, 59, was ordered to be detained at Castle Peak Hospital in Tuen Mun for six months by Magistrate Lam Tsz-kan of Eastern Court after the court heard that Ma has the intellectual capacity of a 21-month-old child.

Lam said Ma committed the grisly act – but was mentally unfit to enter a plea for herself.

The magistrate said he received recommendations from two psychiatrists who had evaluated Ma’s mental disorder, background and family situation. Both the doctors, according to Lam, said the most suitable action was for Ma to be sent to a detention centre in a psychiatric hospital.

Ma was brought to Eastern Court on Tuesday to face one count of inflicting grievous bodily harm, an offence punishable by three years in prison. She assaulted her 66-year-old sister, Ma Wai-kuen, on April 30.

Earlier in the day, three witnesses took the stand and confirmed their testimony.

The defendant’s other sister, Ma Wai-chong, 64, told the court she was asleep until police arrived at the family’s home on the day of the incident.

“I woke up after I heard a lot of police officers knocking the door,” Ma Wai-chong said.

She said no one else had been in the flat but her two sisters and herself.

Dr Lau Siu-ki of Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai told the court there were fingernail abrasions on the cornea of the victim’s left eye.

“I was not at the scene, but I deduce that a hand was used to injure the left eye,” he said.

He said that it was physically possible for someone to gouge an eye out if enough force is used.

Lau said the harm on the left eye was more serious than the right. He said a lot of blood and vitreous body – the clear gel between the lens and the retina of the eyeball – had spilled out of the eye.

The defence lawyer questioned Lau about the possibility that there could be other reasons for the victim’s injuries, specifically hyphema or chemosis.

Lau explained that hyphema – a broken blood vessel in the eye that causes blood to collect behind the cornea – is generally the result of trauma. He said that acute glaucoma could cause chemosis, which is swelling in the mucous membrane that covers the eye and eyelids.

Lam also noted that, according to the victim, the defendant used both hands to gouge her eyes and continued despite cries for her to stop.

The magistrate accepted Lau’s statement and ruled that Ma Wai-king did commit the act.

Ma Wai-chong said Ma Wai-kuen could move around now but was still weak from the attack.

During the trial, the defendant was slumped in a wheelchair. She cried continuously and tried to put her feet on the dock.

The court previously heard that Ma has the intellectual capacity of a 21-month-old child.

Ma Wai-chong, who was wearing a mask, left the court without responding to reporters’ questions about the magistrate’s ruling.

A spokesman for the Social Welfare Department said social workers would continue to provide emotional counselling and welfare support to the Ma family.