TNAG-1212-FCO40-1515-Crimes-and-sentences-in-Hong-Kong--including-death-sentences-1982 — Page 205

NAME

SEX

: Male

AGE

: 39

NATIVE PLACE

RELIGION

: Wai Yeung, China.

: Nil

A.

GENERAL INFORMATION

E

TTI

SOCIAL ENQUIRY ON CONDEMNED PRISONER

The Prisoner was born in a peasant's family at his native place in the Mainland China. He was the only child in the family because he lost his father when he was only 2 years old. After the death of the father, the Prisoner's mother took up farming so as to support the livelihood of the family. As she was pre-occupied with work all day long, the Prisoner was left mostly to the care of his aged grandmother. Being a village boy in a rural area, the Prisoner did not have much chance to receive proper education. He had attended school for about 3 years and then quitted because he had no interest in bookwork. Anyway, he learnt a few Chinese

a chracters and knew how to write his name. After he gave up schooling, he assisted his mother in farming and subsequently became a farmer as well.

2.

The Prisoner became alone when his grandmother and mother died one after the other. Claiming that there was insufficient food supply for survival at his native place, the Prisoner sneaked into Hong Kong sometime in 1962. Upon arrival, he was successful to locate his cousin, Mr. Lau Wing-shing, and was helped to settle down. Though the Prisoner had limited education and possessed no technical skill, he managed to secure himself a job because there was a great demand of manual worker in the labour market. He worked as a mason in the construction sites and stayed in that trade eversince. At an on-and-off pattern, he worked mostly in the Kowloon City district and was given $100 - $500 per day when employed. As he had no family burden, the Prisoner had no financial problem although he was unsteady in employment.

3.

The Prisoner's life in Hong Kong had been independent and to a certain extent lonely all these years. He was so far unmarried and lived alone. Though he had a cousin in Hong Kong, he had little contact with him. He had only a few friends, indicating a narrow social circle. The people that the Prisoner mostly got along with were some kinsmen who were also workers of his trade. At his leisure hours, the Prisoner's favorite past- time was playing mahjong with his kinsmen. He had also a habit of drinking beer yet, he was neither a gambler nor a drunkard. Before he committed the present offence, he had a clear record suggesting that he was a law abiding citizen in the past.

B. FAMILY COMPOSILLON

The Prisoner was known to have no family member and close relative either in Hong Kong or in the Mainland China. His only relative here was a cousin named Lau Wing-shing. However, as Mr. Lau was living in Fanling, they did not have much contact with each other.

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