The mother of Chan Yin-lam says her daughter deserves to rest in peace. Previous Next

The mother of a 15-year-old student found dead at sea is pleading for people to stop looking into her death because she believes her daughter had committed suicide.

In an interview with TVB, the mother, surnamed Ho, held up the birth certificate of Chan Yin-lam and said: "I want to clarify that my daughter died of suicide instead of being murdered."

Chan, a Youth College (International) student, was last seen by friends at about 2.15 pm on September 19 at the MTR Mei Foo station. Her naked body was found floating at sea near Yau Tong three days later.

Police earlier said they believe Chan's death was a suicide, stressing that her body did not show any wounds or indications of sexual assault. But as Chan had attended protests regularly, some believed her death was suspicious.

Asked how she was so certain, Ho said she had followed the case with police and seen all the security footage.

"The footage shows that her facial expression was abnormal," she said.

Besides, Ho said, her daughter had told her at least twice that a voice kept talking to her, leading her to suspect Chan suffered from psychosis.

"She told me: A male voice kept telling me to do so. The voice kept talking to me so I couldn't sleep. I feel very exhausted. I don't want to go back to the girls' home, It was really horrifying."

Ho stressed a doctor had said Chan was only rebellious and did not have mental problems.

She said Chan had stayed at a girls' home as she was emotionally unstable after visiting her boyfriend at Tong Fuk Correctional Institution in August. Ho also Chan participated in protests in June. But in July, she told Ho she did not want to go as the protest had changed its nature.

Ho said she hopes the incident would die down as soon as possible, as she was doxxed and someone had called her at midnight.

"I hope my daughter can rest in peace," she said, sobbing. "She disliked people being noisy in the past, but you guys keep being noisy everyday. It is very disturbing. I believe she will feel disturbed in heaven too."

This comes as the Vocational Training Council called on authorities to start an inquest into Chan's death as soon as possible because the incident has sparked widespread public concern.

Hong Kong Design Institute, where Chan was last seen, has released 16 clips captured by campus security cameras showing Chan wandering the campus for more than an hour.

However, some questioned if the girl in the footage was Chan, accusing that the one captured by the security camera might be just "an actress."

The council said all footage are real and it did not make any amendments.

stellast.wong@singtaonewscorp.com

Editorial: Stop exploiting tragic teen's death