Court upholds murder convictions of Hongkonger who killed 2 relatives in brazen 2018 shooting

The Court of Final Appeal on Wednesday turned down Ada Tsim Sum-kit’s final retrial request after finding no unfairness was done to her at the trial even though she was asked to prove she had suffered mental impairment at the time of the offences.

The five-judge panel ruled the legal requirement for the 50-year-old to prove she was only liable for the lesser offence of manslaughter on a diminished responsibility basis did not derogate from her right to be presumed innocent under local laws.

“Proof of a relevant abnormality of mind is not an ingredient of the offence of murder,” the court said in a judgment penned by Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung and judge Joseph Fok.

“The burden placed on a defendant to establish the defence of diminished responsibility only arises when the prosecution has satisfied the burden of proving beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant is otherwise guilty of murder.”

The court further held that the legal burden placed on the defence struck a fair balance between an individual’s right to be assumed innocent and the societal benefits of the restriction.

Fellow justices Roberto Ribeiro, Johnson Lam Man-hon and William Gummow, a non-permanent judge from Australia, endorsed the 28-page judgment.

Flanked by six prison officers in the dock, Tsim betrayed no emotions as the verdict was read out and her life sentence confirmed.

A seven-member High Court jury unanimously found Tsim guilty in 2021 of two counts of murder for killing her aunt Jim Siu-fan and uncle Chim Chun-ki with a .25 calibre pistol at Quarry Bay Park on June 26, 2018.

The former bodyguard was also convicted of two counts of shooting with intent for wounding her uncle Jim Chin-kui and aunt Jim Siu-wai in the same incident.

The lower court heard Tsim had held a grudge against her uncles and aunts over a dispute involving her mother’s placement at a home for the elderly until her death and a property left behind by her late grandmother.

The defence contended at the trial she was unable to make a sound judgment due to severe depression and methamphetamine use, an argument rejected by the jury.

The Court of Appeal first dismissed Tsim’s challenge in May last year after concluding her application had “no merit”.