'Voice' told Hong Kong restaurant worker to throw chair that killed passer-by, court hears
Kitchen helper hurled object, fracturing man's skull, after a voice in his head told him to
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 03 June, 2015, 3:21pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 04 June, 2015, 2:23am
Thomas Chan [email protected]
Tong Mong-leong, pictured here with his face covered when he was arrested last year, pleaded guilty. Photo: SCMP Pictures
A restaurant kitchen helper heard a voice in his head that told him to hurl a chair from the roof of a Mong Kok building a year ago, killing a passer-by, a court heard yesterday.
Tong Mong-leong, 24, pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter before High Court judge Mrs Justice Judianna Barnes Wai-ling.
He had received treatment for mental illness at Kwai Chung Hospital between March and May last year, defence lawyer Lawrence Hui Cheuk-lun told the court.
But at about midnight on June 10, a swivel chair crashed down onto the head of Wong Wai-tak, 29, as he was walking along Sai Yeung Choi Street with two friends towards Argyle Street, prosecutor Rosaline Leung Sun-yee said.
The force left a 10cm gaping fracture on the left side of Wong's skull and exposed the underlying brain tissue, she added.
An autopsy report said: "The injury was so severe that it could have caused death within a short period due to massive bleeding and brain dysfunction."
Leung described Tong as "dull and anxious" when police found him, along with two abandoned chairs, on the rooftop of the building opposite the scene.
Tong told the officers he had randomly thrown a chair down onto the street because he suddenly heard a voice telling him to do so.
Leung said a mental assessment of Tong found he was experiencing severe depression with psychotic symptoms.
The judge ordered two psychiatric assessments and adjourned the case to June 26 for sentencing.
