A fifty-year-old man named Ling Wai-ming, who suffers from schizophrenia, has been committed to an indeterminate term in Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre Tuesday for the brutal murder of his neighbor last year.

Justice Michael McMahon said at the High Court Tuesday that Ling is capable of extreme and brutal violence. The judge found that Ling's persecutory delusions make the accused potentially hostile to everyone.

The Justice also said that according to a psychiatrist, Ling should be detained in a mental institution because he is "extremely dangerous to the public". Ling will be held indefinitely at Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre. He will remain there until he is fully healed and no longer poses a danger to the public.

Ling was convicted of manslaughter at the Court of First Instance on June 11, 2010.

His neighbor, 57-year-old Feng Zhiying, had been found in a bloody pool in her apartment. Her body bore over 40 stab wounds to the neck and head. The victim lived next door to Ling at Tin Ling House, Lung Tin Estate in Tai O. The slaying took place on June 25, 2009.

Ling, a vagrant who once had been an MTR driver, told police he stabbed his neighbor to death because he believed that "she was a spy", intent on harming him.

A security guard at Tin Ling House testified that Feng called for help at 2 am as Ling broke into her residence, wielding a 26-centimeter-long knife. Feng was heard to cry out, "don't kill me!" The security guard hurried to the victim's apartment in time to spot Ling leaving, with blood on his arm. Police arrested Ling later that afternoon as he lingered in Tung Chung with the bloody 26-centimeter-long knife.

Ling had lived next to Feng Zhiying since 2008. The two had been observed arguing frequently. A day before the murder, Ling had described Feng as "a mad woman" and a "dog" in his personal diary, according to reports by local media.

China Daily

(HK Edition 07/07/2010 page1)