Hong Kong woman who gunned down relatives found guilty of offering HK$300,000 bribe to prison officer
- Former bodyguard Ada Tsim, 48, already serving life sentence at Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre since 2021 after killing two relatives in a park in 2018
- Magistrate finds Tsim guilty of trying to bribe officer overseeing her ward to avoid transfer to women’s maximum security facility
A woman serving a life sentence for shooting and killing her relatives five years ago in a Hong Kong park was found guilty on Thursday of offering a HK$300,000 (US$38,417) bribe to a prison officer.
Deputy Magistrate Chu Chung-keung sentenced Ada Tsim Sum-kit, a 48-year-old former bodyguard, to six months in prison and required the defendant to serve the time concurrently with her other jail term.
Flanked by four prison officers throughout the court session, Tsim appeared agitated as she waited about an hour for Chu to deliver a verdict. The magistrate at one point told the defendant to remain seated.
Tsim was previously convicted of two counts of murder in 2021 and sent to Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre after she shot her aunt Jim Siu-fan and uncle Chim Chun-ki, as well as wounding two other relatives at Quarry Bay Park in June 2018.
The former bodyguard gunned down her relatives with a .25 calibre pistol over a family dispute involving her mother’s placement at a care home for the elderly until her death and property left behind by Tsim’s late grandmother.
Tsim filed an appeal against the 2021 verdict and the duration of her sentence, but the application was dismissed in May of this year.
Deputy Magistrate Chu on Thursday said it was clear that Tsim had sought to bribe the Correctional Services Department principal officer overseeing her ward in November 2021 in the hopes of avoiding a transfer to maximum security facility the Tai Lam Centre for Women.
