A university professor accused of murdering his wife and daughter was sleeping in a separate room from his spouse and had been made to cook his own meals, his trial heard.
Siti Maesaroh, the family’s domestic worker, told the High Court yesterday that 53-year-old professor Khaw Kim-sun and his 47-year-old wife Wong Siew-fing lived under the same roof, but spent a lot of time apart, reported Skypost.
Khaw, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s (CUHK) department of anaesthesia and intensive care, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife and their 16-year-old daughter by filling a yoga ball with carbon monoxide and leaving it in his wife’s Mini Cooper in May 2015.
Maesaroh said she started working for the family a few months before the tragedy, and that her primary job was cleaning.
She added that Wong was responsible for the school run and would cook meals for herself and her four children. She said Khaw, meanwhile, was responsible for cooking his own meals, and the couple were sleeping in separate rooms at the time of the tragedy.
Maesaroh told the court that the family had two cars — a black Toyota that was driven by Khaw, and a yellow Mini Cooper that was driven by Wong — and that the family home had three yoga balls, including a gray one that was found in the Mini Cooper.
Recounting the day of the tragedy, Maesaroh said Wong took the two youngest children to school and returned home to take a nap at about 10am. The 16-year-old daughter was having a lie-in because she was still on school vacation.
Maesaroh said the pair got into the Mini Cooper at around 2pm, but she couldn’t remember seeing them carry a gray yoga ball.
According to Apple Daily, coroner Foo Ka-chung told the court earlier that the wife and daughter died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and that Wong had no alcohol in her blood.
Foo added that Wong had been struggling with psychiatric problems had some anti-depressants in her body but there was no sign of an overdose.
When carbon monoxide is inhaled, it combines with with oxygen-carrying hemoglobin in red blood cells to form carboxyhemoglobin. This prevents red blood cells from functioning normally, and a concentration of 40 percent of carboxyhemoglobin would be fatal.
Foo told the court that Wong’s carboxyhemoglobin concentration was 50 percent, and her daughter’s was 41 percent.
The judge reportedly had to adjourn the proceedings temporarily after Khaw started crying during the coroner’s testimony.
The trial continues today.
