Pictured: Passer-by killed by chair ‘thrown from 9-storey building’ psychiatric patient held
22-year-old arrested on suspicion of murder of salesman, 29, who died after chair allegedly thrown from roof of ten-storey building landed on him
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 10 June, 2014, 10:55am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 10 June, 2014, 11:27pm
Clifford Lo [email protected]
The chair that killed Wong Wai-tik was allegedly thrown from the rooftop of 59 Sai Yeung Choi Street South. Photo: SCMP
A 22-year-old psychiatric patient has been arrested on suspicion of murder, police said, after a passer-by was killed by a chair allegedly thrown from the roof of a ten-storey building in Mong Kok in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
An initial police investigation revealed the former waiter has been receiving treatment for mental illness for about six months, according to a police source.
The man is understood to be an outpatient at Kwai Chung psychiatric hospital and the psychiatric unit of Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai Chung.
The source said he had his last consultation at Princess Margaret Hospital last week.
“Doctors are assessing his mental state in hospital,” the source said. “We will look into the results of his medical examination as part of our investigation.”
The chair that killed Wong Wai-tik was allegedly thrown from the rooftop of 59 Sai Yeung Choi Street South. Photo: SCMP
On Tuesday afternoon the suspect was being held in the custodial ward of Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei. He had not been charged.
The man, who arrived in Hong Kong from the mainland in 2009, lives alone in a top-floor flat of the ten-storey building at 59 Sai Yeung Choi Street South from where the office chair was allegedly thrown, police said.
The suspect is lead away by police. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Wong Wai-tik, 29, a salesman, was hit by the chair on the pavement opposite the nine-storey building at about 1am on Tuesday.
Wong and two colleagues – a man and woman – were walking on the pavement after a late meal, according to police.
Video footage appears to show the 29-year-old lying unconscious on the street next to the broken chair in the aftermath of the incident.
People walking on Sai Yeung Choi Street South on Tuesday look up at the rooftops of the buildings opposite. Photo: Sam Tsang
“Don’t sleep. Don’t sleep. Ah Tik,” his distressed female colleague shouts before paramedics arrived.
Wong was taken to Kwong Wah Hospital where he was declared dead at 1.19am.
Officers went to the roof of the nine-storey building where police said the 22-year-old man was found alone drinking beer.
On the roof, police found a chair similar to the one that landed on Wong along with several empty cans of beer, and arrested the man.
Police search the crime scene. Photo: SCMP Pictures
“Initially, he admitted he had thrown a chair down to the street earlier,” said Superintendent Jackson Mak Pui-yuen, assistant Mong Kok district commander for crime.
Wong worked in a boutique in Tsim Sha Tsui and lived with his mother, younger brother and sister in Ma On Shan, according to police.
After daybreak, police and government forensic officers returned to the scene to investigate further.
Mak said a reconstruction of the crime would be carried out if necessary. He said police would also check surveillance footage to see whether it captured the incident.
The HK$1.7 million “eye in the sky” surveillance system was set up in Sai Yeung Choi Street South after three acid-throwing attacks were carried out in the pedestrian precinct from December 2008 to June 2009. A total of 101 people were injured in the three incidents.
Police have offered three rewards totalling HK$900,000 for help in solving those attacks, but no arrests have been made.
