Repeated attacks by people with mental illness and the anxiety they expose
The actor Simon Yam, of Hong Kong, China, was stabbed in the abdomen with a fruit knife by a man who rushed onto the stage at a shop-opening ceremony in Zhongshan on 20 July 2019; the wound did not injure any organ and his life was not in danger. The attacker, 53, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and the case has renewed public debate about criminal responsibility for offenders with mental illness and about the treatment, day-to-day care and supervision of patients, which families often cannot bear alone.
On 20 July 2019 the stabbing of a celebrity was reported by every major outlet, and video of the incident quickly spread online, setting off wide discussion. The celebrity was Simon Yam, of Hong Kong, China. At about 10:12 that day he was attending the opening ceremony of a decoration market in the Torch Development Zone of Zhongshan, and during the on-stage interview a man suddenly rushed up from directly in front of the stage and, taking a fruit knife from his right trouser pocket, stabbed at Mr Yam so fast that the security staff did not react. The blade struck him in the lower right abdomen and cut four fingers of his right hand, and the man kept brandishing the knife, intending to strike again. Fortunately the security staff recovered and quickly overpowered him and called the police, who arrived promptly and took him to the police station, where compulsory measures were applied and a full investigation carried out.
After the attack Mr Yam was taken to hospital without delay. The Zhongshan Torch Development Zone Hospital diagnosed a wound 2 centimetres wide and 3 centimetres deep in the right abdomen that had not injured any organ, together with cuts to four fingers of the right hand. After treatment his life was not in danger and his condition was stable.
The Zhongshan Municipal Public Security Bureau classified the matter as intentional injury. The police investigation established that the man is Chen, 53, a resident of Zhongshan, and that the weapon he carried was 20.71 centimetres long overall, with a blade of 10.94 centimetres.
On preliminary examination the suspect Chen admitted deliberately injuring Mr Yam with a knife. Following a psychiatric examination and preliminary medical diagnosis by specialists at Zhongshan Third People's Hospital, Chen was found to have a mental disorder, namely paranoid schizophrenia, commonly known as delusional disorder.
The details of the case remain under investigation.
Must a person with mental illness who attacks another bear criminal liability?
The news that the attacker has a mental disorder provoked further dissatisfaction and debate online, and many readers spoke up for Mr Yam. On 22 July, however, his manager Mani Fok said in an interview that after learning that the attacker has schizophrenia Mr Yam did not intend to pursue the matter.
So does a person with mental illness who attacks another bear criminal liability?
Article 18 of the Criminal Law, headed "criminal capacity of persons in special categories", provides that a person with mental illness who causes a harmful result at a time when he is unable to recognise or control his own conduct, as confirmed by forensic examination carried out under the statutory procedure, bears no criminal liability, but that his family or guardian shall be ordered to keep him under close supervision and arrange medical treatment, and that where necessary the government shall provide compulsory medical treatment. A person with intermittent mental illness who commits a crime while of sound mind bears criminal liability. A person with mental illness who has not completely lost the capacity to recognise or control his conduct and commits a crime bears criminal liability, but may be given a lighter or mitigated punishment.
A person with mental illness who attacks another therefore bears no criminal liability only where three conditions are satisfied: first, the offender must have a mental illness; second, the offence must have been committed at a time when he could not recognise or control his conduct; and third, this must be confirmed by forensic examination under the statutory procedure.
Repeated attacks by people with mental illness readily cause public alarm
In recent years there have been many attacks by people with mental illness. Many of those responsible have escaped legal sanction on the strength of mental illness as a kind of immunity, so it is no wonder that readers joke, whenever a case is reported, that the offender will turn out to be mentally ill again.
From the killings at Honggutan in Nanchang on 24 May this year to the stabbing of Mr Yam, the response to killings and attacks by people with mental illness has been anger, lamentation and nothing but alarm. It is hard to predict when a person with mental illness will turn violent, and severe cases commonly face three difficulties at once: treatment, day-to-day care and supervision. The treatment and care of patients with severe mental illness is hard for a family to bear alone, since sustained treatment is very expensive and an ordinary family can seldom afford it, or is simply unwilling to spend so much. That is how some patients come to be left to themselves.
This group has become an unpredictable danger to public safety, and there is no way of knowing whether one will be the next innocent victim.
As the People's Daily put it in a short commentary, a sharp knife wounded Simon Yam and pierced public anxiety as well. From the water thrown over Robin Li to the attack on Mr Yam, assaults on public figures have followed one another, which should not only push security staff to be more vigilant but remind society as a whole to safeguard public safety together. Attacks by people with schizophrenia recur, and unless the problem is checked at its source public alarm is likely to grow.
The government and society should therefore pay closer attention to such matters and manage them better, so as to avoid wider public alarm. Whether the hospital facilities for mental illness should be expanded, how patients can be given a sustained chance of improvement through treatment, and whether patients with severe mental illness can be brought within a regime of special supervision and long-term follow-up management all require the support of government and society; and patients with mental illness and their families need the care of government, society and public opinion as well.