Hong Kong court orders indefinite psychiatric treatment for mall killer

Hong Kong’s High Court has ordered Szeto Sing-kwong to spend an indefinite period in a psychiatric hospital after he killed two women in a knife attack at a shopping centre three years ago, the South China Morning Post reports. The court directed the former warehouse worker to receive mandatory psychiatric treatment and supervision at Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre in Tuen Mun. The order followed the court’s consideration of his mental condition and the circumstances of the attack.

The report describes Szeto as a man with a mental disability. It says he fatally stabbed the two women in what it characterises as a frenzied attack, but the supplied material does not provide their identities or explain the sequence of events at the shopping centre. The High Court noted that Szeto continued to show limited insight into his mental ailment.

The report also says he killed the two people for no logical reason, without providing further detail about the court’s findings or the evidence presented. The indefinite placement means that the available material does not establish how long Szeto will remain at the psychiatric centre. It also does not state the conditions under which his treatment or supervision might later be reviewed.