Depressed mom pleads guilty to manslaughter for slashing daughter’s wrist

A 54-year-old mother suffering from depression pleaded guilty to manslaughter for cutting her 16-year-old daughter’s wrist with a fruit knife after drugging the girl at their Tin Shui Wai home in 2019. 

Kwok Lin-choi appeared before judge Andrew Chan Hing-wai in the High Court on Tuesday morning and pleaded guilty to killing her daughter, surnamed Tsui, in a unit in Tin Heng Estate on October 10, 2019. 

Kwok first pleaded not guilty to murder, and the prosecution later accepted her guilty plea for the manslaughter charge. 

Judge Chan described the incident as a tragedy and adjourned the case to May 17 for sentencing, awaiting background and probation reports for Kwok. 

In mitigation, the defense said losing her daughter was already the biggest punishment for Kwok and added that the social unrest was one of the elements that affected her emotions. Kwok also paid no attention to her behaviors in this incident, the defense said. 

The court earlier heard that a neighbor walked past Kwok’s home and found her sitting by the window ledge with her phone, about to jump off the building. As police responded to the scene and broke into the unit, they found bloodstains on the floor, a suicide note on the desk, some pills, and pan-fried luncheon meat. 

On the other hand, Kwok’s late daughter was lying on the bed, covered by a blanket. There was a four-centimeter-long slash on the girl’s right wrist, and she had no pulse at that point. A 20-cm-long fruit knife stained with blood was also found by the bedside. 

After being admitted to the hospital, Kwok kept talking to herself, saying, “I killed my daughter; I want to die with her … The cut must have hurt so bad, she was definitely in so much pain. Why did I do that?” 

Under police caution, Kwok told officers, “I think my daughter has changed, so I put some sleeping pills in her drinks and killed her with a fruit knife.” Kwok also told police she cut herself. 

In a recorded meeting with police, Kwok said she dissolved 50 sleeping pills, other anti-depression drugs, and red wine into hot water and served her daughter the “medication.” Kwok claimed that they were both ill, but she couldn’t afford the medical fees for her daughter, so she wanted to kill herself and leave this world behind. 

As Kwok cut her sleeping daughter’s wrist, she heard the girl saying the slash hurt. Kwok also said her daughter wanted to have luncheon meat, so she went and cooked some but found her daughter dead when she returned. 

The psychiatrist’s report revealed that Kwok attempted to kill herself several times before this incident by physically harming herself and overdosing. The report added that Kwok worried for her daughter, who had fallen in love, and Kwok was severely affected by symptoms of depression at that time.