Court told of why bodyguard shot her aunt and uncle dead

Wallis Wang

A 47-year-old former female bodyguard shot and killed two of her relatives and wounded two others after blaming them for the death of her mother, the High Court heard yesterday.

The prosecution told Justice Maggie Poon Man-kay that the woman blamed her aunts and uncles for sending her mother to an elderly home and not taking good care of her, which led to her mother's death from pneumonia in 2015.

Jobless Ada Tsim Sum-kit, 47, has pleaded not guilty to murdering her aunt Jim Siu-fan, 80, and her uncle, Chim Chun-ki, 62, in an alleged shooting spree on June 26, 2018 at Quarry Bay Park.

Tsim pleaded not guilty to two other counts of shooting with intent and wounding her uncle Jim Chin-kui, 75, and aunt Jim Siu-wai, 63.

The senior assistant director of public prosecutions, Derek Lai Kim-wah, said Tsim's mother was seriously ill and could no longer take care of herself in 2013, and the family sent her to an elderly care home with Tsim's consent.

But Tsim blamed her aunts and uncles for failing to take care of her mother and accused them of trying to steal part of her grandmother's inheritance - a flat in Nan Fung Sun Chuen - that belonged to her mother.

On June 15, 2018, Tsim invited her aunts, uncles and her elder brother to have lunch, but she did not show up after aunt Jim Siu-wai said she was not available for the gathering, Lai said.

Tsim later apologized and invited them to dine at the Graces Restaurant in Quarry Bay on June 26.

Lai said Tsim told the relatives about her job as a bodyguard and showed the self-defense tactics she learned at Quarry Bay Park after lunch. And when the relatives tried to leave, she suddenly shot her aunt and uncles four times with a handgun. Her brother ran away.

Tsim was intercepted by a security guard in Cityplaza Four at Tai Koo Shing and was later arrested by police.

Officers found a handgun loaded with five rounds in her pocket as well as another 41 rounds, Lai told the court.

Tsim told police she shot her relatives over some disputes, he said.

Lai said Jim Siu-fan died on the night of the shooting and Chim Chun-ki died the following day.

Jim Chin-kui and Jim Siu-wai were in hospital for 10 and three days, respectively.

Tsim's uncle Jim Chin-kui, who was seriously wounded, said yesterday that Tsim agreed to send her mother to an elderly home and that she herself found the care home for her mother. It was strange, he added, that she did not express her dissatisfaction directly.

He also recalled Tsim complaining: that her mother "might not have died if she was not sent to an elderly care home."

On June 26, Tsim invited relatives to have lunch together, but she was almost one-and-a-half hours late, Jim said.

Tsim also went to the toilet for 20 to 30 minutes during the lunch.

He said although Tsim invited relatives to have lunch to thank them for taking care of her mother, she did not eat anything.

And Jim said the only thing she said was: "Why did you handle the inheritance so late?"

The hearing continues tomorrow.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com