Hong Kong woman arrested in attempted murder case after husband fatally slashed in his apartment

Hong Kong police have arrested a woman who allegedly killed her husband in their Tseung Kwan O apartment before attempting suicide.

Police said the woman, aged 32, allegedly slashed her husband, a 30-year-old IT engineer, with a 30cm-long fruit knife as he slept on a sofa in their Lohas Park Phase apartment 9 around 11 p.m. Saturday.

Tsang Chun-kit, deputy commander of Tseung Kwan O district, said on Sunday that the woman, who works as an office worker, had been suffering from severe depression since the birth of her son.

“The mental state of the woman is a major orientation [of the investigation]”because she suffered from severe depression after giving birth to the child and regularly consulted a private psychiatrist,” he said.

Tsang said the couple had been married for five years and showed no signs of financial problems, while police had no record of past incidents involving the couple.

The boy, aged one and a half, was being looked after by his paternal grandfather when the incident happened, he said.

Tsang said the woman then called her father-in-law to tell him about the beating and that she was going to kill herself, prompting him to call the police.

Police rushed to the scene and found the husband covered in blood and lying unconscious on the sofa, before finding the wife in the couple's bedroom. A fruit knife was also seized at the scene.

The couple were taken to Tseung Kwan O Hospital, where the husband was pronounced dead at 12:31 a.m. Sunday. The woman, who had no superficial injuries, was arrested and remains in police custody.

The case has been classified as murder and attempted suicide. The Tseung Kwan O District Criminal Investigation Unit has opened an investigation.

Psychiatrist May Lam Mei-ling, president of the Hong Kong Mental Welfare Association, said it was rare for people with depression to be homicidal, but the risk was higher when the patient was seriously ill. depressed and also had psychotic symptoms, including delusional thoughts.

Lam said about 70 percent of new mothers experience “postnatal blues” in the first two weeks after giving birth, feeling depressed and suffering from insomnia due to hormonal changes. But about 10 to 15 percent would have persistent symptoms of depression beyond that time.

She said this group often felt helpless, hopeless and worthless, blaming themselves for not being good mothers and worrying excessively about their babies.

Typically, a mother would have trouble sleeping well and would wake up in the middle of the night to check if her baby was still breathing, fearing that something serious might happen to him.

“Some mothers attempt suicide, or even take their baby with them, when they firmly believe their child will not survive and there is nothing they can do about it,” she said. “But killing someone else is quite rare.”

Lam said new mothers were at greater risk of developing postnatal depression if they had a history of mental health problems and the pregnancy was unplanned.

Prenatal complications and congenital pathologies of the baby, as well as lack of care after birth, would also increase the risk.

Postnatal depression can be prevented if symptoms are detected early and the condition can be treated with medication and therapy. She urged family members of new mothers to be alert to these symptoms and seek professional help as soon as possible.