Hong Kong father who tried to kill his three children by burning charcoal jailed for eight years
- Cheung Chu-kong bought the charcoal and took pills and alcohol ahead of the murder-suicide attempt last year
- Judge took into account attestations from Cheung’s ex-wife but said there was no justification for trying to take a child’s life
A father who tried to kill his three children by burning charcoal while they slept was sentenced to eight years in jail on Friday after being reminded by a judge that their still being alive was down to “sheer luck”.
High Court Judge Madam Maggie Poon Man-kay said that although she accepted that Cheung Chu-kong was ordinarily a good father – as attested by his ex-wife and six-year-old daughter – the man had obviously planned the attempted murder in advance just because he was in debt.
“Whatever the predicament an adult faces, there is no justification for taking their children’s lives,” she said, adding that she needed to impose a deterrent sentence.
Cheung, who pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted murder in September, had bought charcoal hours before the murder-suicide attempt, which took place in the early hours of March 21 last year. The incident almost cost the lives of his daughter and two sons, the latter of whom were then aged four and two.
Later that morning, having been told Cheung was missing from work, his estranged wife, who had left him because of his infidelity, arrived back at their home in Tsuen Wan and discovered all four family members before they died.
Sentencing Cheung on Friday, Poon began her remarks with a quote from Sigmund Freud, the celebrated Austrian psychoanalyst. “I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection,” she recited.