Hong Kong man who tried to attack magistrate with knife remanded under special watch
Court hears that 32-year-old man wrote ‘I want to end my life’ on charge sheet while in police custody after alleged attack on Monday
A Hong Kong court has ordered a man who tried to attack a magistrate with a knife to be remanded in custody under special watch, after being told the suspect has suicidal thoughts.
Lee Ching-tat, 32, was on Wednesday brought to Kowloon City Court, where two days earlier he allegedly attempted to wound Magistrate Edward Wong Ching-yu in the same building.
The prosecution told Magistrate Philip Chan Chee-fai, who presided over the hearing, that the defendant was a patient at a psychiatric clinic at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei, and a doctor had assessed him as a person prone to violence.
Prosecutors asked the court to order the Correctional Services Department to put Lee under special watch, as he had written the words “I want to end my life” on the charge sheet while in police custody.
“That objective fact has caused us to believe that the defendant has a tendency to harm himself,” the prosecutor said.
The prosecution asked for the case to be adjourned to January 3 to conduct further investigations into personal belongings Lee had brought to the court on Monday. They included four bottles of liquid and two containing powder, with the substances yet to be identified.
