Man given one-year probation over mercy killing of terminally ill wife

A 58-year-old man was sentenced to 12-month probation for helping his ill-suffering wife to end her life, saying he wanted to “cease her pain.”  

Kwok Wai-yin, the former electrician, was on trial on Wednesday (September 7) as being charged with the manslaughter of his 54-year-old wife by burning charcoal two years ago. The judge sentenced him to one year of probation, considering Kwok’s case was a “tragedy.”  

On January 30, 2020, the police received a report from Kwok turning himself in for murdering his wife in their dwelling in Pat Leung Building in Ap Lei Chau.  

The wife, diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in 2018, was found dead in the bed when the police arrived. She had been suffering from the pain for four years, and the couple agreed to end her life due to unbearable pain, Kwok said in court.  

Kwok admitted that he burnt charcoal in the room to “kill his wife” after kissing her forehead and playing a Buddhist melody; he then called the police after her death.  

Judge Albert Wong Sung-hau described Kwok’s case as a “tragedy,” saying there was no doubt that the manslaughter was due to the defendant’s love for his wife and wanting to relieve her pain.  

“However, the protection of life is a significant purpose of justice,” the judge said, “any methods to take life away should be punishable.”  

Kwok was convicted of murdering previously but changed to manslaughter with the consent of the prosecution.  

“Leniency should be spared to the defendant as he was bearing great pressure while taking care of his wife. Besides, he was detained for over two years and had pleaded guilty,” said the judge, sentencing Kwok to 12-month probation.  

Kwok and his wife, with no child, lived together for the duration of their over-30-year marriage.  

The wife was diagnosed with lung cancer in October 2018, and Kwok resigned from his job to take care of her.  

However, the wife asked to be discharged from the hospital in January 2020 since her condition worsened, saying she could not bear the pain of the disease and told her sister that she wanted euthanasia.  

Hong Kong does not prescribe to legal euthanasia. According to the Code of Professional Conduct for the Guidance of Registered Medical Practitioners (Code), euthanasia is “illegal and unethical.”  

Under Hong Kong’s law, a patient could have the right to ask “not to receive any life-sustaining treatment or any other specified treatment” when he is “terminally ill, in a state of irreversible coma or in a persistent vegetative state” if he is mentally competent to make decisions – which is not equivalent to euthanasia.  

Tang Siu-pun, a quadriplegic Hongkonger born in 1969, became paralyzed from the neck down during an incident when he was 22.  

He then wrote to former Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-wah and legislators, letter by letter, to ask for the right to let him die but didn't get permission. He passed away from the disease in 2012.