South China Morning Post Thursday, June 10, 1999
Hong Kong Family die in murder-suicide
ALEX LO
Three boys and their parents were found dead
in an apparent murder-suicide yesterday.
The bodies of Ng Jo-yin, 12, Ng Ho-yin, 10,
and Ng Chung-yin, 8, were found on a bed
with their father, Ng Chung-kit, 42, and
mother Lam Siu-ying, 39, in a Tin Shui Wai
flat.
The windows and doors of the flat were sealed
and charcoal had been burned.
Lam was lying to one side of the three boys,
hemming them in against the wall, and Ng was
lying across his wife and sons.
A letter was left in the flat on the 18th floor of
Shui Sum House on Tin Shui Estate.
Firemen broke in after work colleagues called
at the flat because Ng, a Regional Services
Department cleaner, had been absent from his
work since Monday.
Yuen Long District Board member Chow
Wing-kan said: "Mr Ng has been working as a
grade two cleaner at a Sheung Shui market
since early this year.
"He had been unemployed since 1995 and
found only temporary work from time to time.
He came to me complaining about his
livelihood and his children's education," said
Mr Chow, who saw the bodies in the flat.
"He and his family were very active and
participated in district events and festivals. He
had no bad habits that I know of, besides
occasional gambling."
Post-mortem examinations will be conducted
today.
Mr Chow said he saw the family "acting
normally" on Monday night, returning home
after a meal out.
The mother was found in pyjamas, the eldest
son in school uniform and the other two boys
in T-shirts and pants.
The two older sons were pupils at Ho Ming
Primary School.
The younger son attended Yeung Yat Lam
Memorial School.
Senior Inspector Poon Ka-yui from Yuen
Long District Crime Squad said that forensic
experts were examining the bodies.
An incense burner was found in the room and
all the windows were closed, with cloths and
jeans used to seal the gaps.
"The room and flat were very tidy. The bodies
were neatly dressed," he said.
FAMILY TRAGEDY
Similar incidents
October 19, 1998: Chan Lam Man-fong, 41,
upset by her husband's affair with a mainland
mistress, throws her two sons, 10 and six, out
of a window before plunging 14 floors to her
death in a Sheung Shui flat.
September 1, 1998: Ex-policeman Wong
Tak-lun, 30, kills himself and his two
daughters, aged three and two, by directing
fumes into his car parked at Bride's Pool
Road, Luk Keng.
May 4, 1998: Tsang Fong Ming-chu, 26,
drowns her three-year-old daughter in a bath
tub in her father's flat in Wong Tai Sin before
leaping to her death in Tseung Kwan O.
April 13, 1998: Medical doctor Betty Ng
Yuk-ming, 47, injects her six-year-old son with
poison before killing herself in their Happy
Valley home.
July 17, 1997: Bachelor Lam Ho-ming, 44,
kills his elderly parents, aged 86 and 79, before
jumping to his death from their Kennedy
Town home.
September 24, 1996: Unemployed Chan
Ying-cheung, 41, survives a suicide pact in
which his daughter, four; son, three; second
wife, 29; his son from his first wife, 21; and
two cousins, 32 and 40; were gassed at a
Tsuen Wan flat. Chan is now held at the Siu
Lam Psychiatrist Centre.