Hong Kong mother charged with murder of her two children (Roundup)

Oct 16, 2009, 10:36 GMT

   Hong Kong - A Hong Kong mother was on Friday charged with the murder of her two children, aged 13 and 12, who were found dead in an apartment filled with burning charcoal.

   The 38-year-old was too ill to attend the hearing and was in hospital recovering from the effects of inhaling charcoal fumes but was charged in her absence with two counts of murder.

   The brother and sister were found dead Wednesday afternoon after their mother, Lee Fung-yee, called police to tell them they were unconscious after she had drugged them with orange juice laced with sleeping pills and burned charcoal in the flat.

   However, it emerged that both fire officers and police had made an earlier visit to the flat 13 hours before after a neighbour reported smoke coming from the flat, but the officers had walked away, deciding there were no suspicious circumstances.

   A postmortem showed the children died from inhaling carbon monoxide, a product of burning charcoal, just two hours after the first police visit.

   Lee is believed to have lit the charcoal after arguments with her married lover, the father of the children.

   Police said that on their first visit, Lee denied them access to the flat in the Tuen Mun district, saying she was burning incense and did not want her sleeping children disturbed.

   When fire officers broke into the flat after her telephone call, Lee was in a semi-conscious state, but the children were dead.

   The incident is the latest in a series of family tragedies in the city of 7 million people.

   There have been eight deaths involving five families so far this year, with charities and support groups working with families in crisis blaming the widening gap between the rich and poor, the high-stress levels of families trying to cope with the economic downturn and the lack of support in the community.