A Hong Kong teenager’s death became a magnet for conspiracies, and exposed deep problems in how the city operates

Had issues labored out otherwise, she would seemingly not have performed a central position in the unrest — considered one of many supporters who threw their weight behind the motion however averted direct clashes with police.

Six weeks later nonetheless, on the morning of September 22, Chan’s bare physique was discovered floating in the sea. She had been useless for greater than 48 hours.

The discovery sparked a maelstrom of media protection and conspiracy theories. While police swiftly labeled the case as a suicide, some in the protest motion claimed there have been indicators of foul play — and even accused authorities of being concerned in a cover-up..

In the nearly 12 months since she died, the controversy has not waned, fed by surveillance footage that appears to indicate nearly all of Chan’s closing actions, with simply sufficient gaps to ask hypothesis and conjecture.

And removed from being peripheral to the protest motion, Chan has been adopted as considered one of its martyrs, her face plastered over posters and flyers as different younger individuals demanded justice on her behalf.

On August 11 this yr, after nearly two weeks of hearings, a Hong Kong jury dominated the reason behind Chan’s death couldn’t be ascertained.

What ought to have been a personal tragedy for her household has develop into a matter of public debate over who’s to be believed: the police or the protesters. Questions about psychological well being help in Hong Kong, and whether or not establishments Chan was in contact with had failed to assist her, have fallen by the wayside.

Yet in a city divided over the authorities and its police pressure, her case is unlikely to be the final engulfed by conspiracy theories.

Breakdown in belief

“The government and police created a very ripe environment for conspiracy theories to flourish in,” mentioned Antony Dapiran, a Hong Kong-based lawyer and writer of “City on Fire,” a guide about the unrest. “Both the police and government gave accounts of events that were so clearly at odds with the objective experiences of people who witnessed it themselves or witnessed it online.”

Violent protests involving tear gasoline, petrol bombs and police prices may be complicated occasions to comply with, even for these straight concerned. Hong Kong’s unrest was extensively dwell streamed, however not all the pieces was caught on digicam — leaving information gaps in which conspiracy theories might thrive.

Before Chan’s death, unfounded rumors had swirled that a number of individuals had died throughout the Prince Edward incident. While no bereaved households ever got here ahead, and there was no public report from any Hong Kong authorities to substantiate the declare, the concept quickly became accepted truth for many protesters, and the station became a memorial lined in flowers.

“He did not come out to dispel the myth sooner because he did not want to help the police,” mentioned Paul Yip, director of the Center for Suicide Research and Prevention at Hong Kong University. “It’s all very, very sad, to see this level of mistrust between the people and police.”

“All of it speaks to the absence of leadership from the government,” he mentioned. “When the authorities either abdicate their responsibility or disappear, as the government did for weeks last year, and/or there’s no trust in the authorities, this creates a vacuum.”

Conspiracy city

Speculation about Chan’s death continued even after her mom publicly mentioned she believed her daughter had taken her personal life, and requested individuals to cease specializing in the case.

But somewhat than cease the conspiracy theories, Chan’s mom was engulfed by them. She mentioned she was inundated with cellphone calls and on-line harassment, accused of being an actor or someway in league with the police in overlaying up her personal daughter’s homicide.

Chan’s household couldn’t be reached for this story. A lawyer representing Chan’s mom didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Yip, director of Hong Kong University’s Center for Suicide Research and Prevention, mentioned “mistrust itself is very contagious, when you feel very strongly about a certain subject.”

In a city the place all the pieces was being cut up alongside political traces, with politicians, corporations and celebrities solid as both “blue” (pro-police) or “yellow” (pro-protest), the determination to talk to TVB — seen by many as pleasant to the authorities — poisoned Chan’s mom’s phrases for some observers.

“That interview rendered (her mother) immediately suspect to protesters and other Hong Kongers who identify as ‘yellow,'” mentioned Sharon Yam, an affiliate professor at the University of Kentucky and common commentator on Hong Kong politics. In an more and more paranoid surroundings, she added, “Hong Kongers who are already made skeptical might believe that Chan’s parents had been paid off as well by the state to lie about their daughter’s death.”

When she appeared exterior the coroner’s court docket final month, Chan’s mom was once more the goal of abuse, with a crowd shouting at her and accusing her of being an actor. Police mentioned two individuals, a 17-year-old boy and a 65-year-old lady, had been arrested and charged with public dysfunction.

Yet Chan’s relations weren’t the solely ones to face repercussions from the case.

Warning indicators

That HKDI surveillance footage maybe greater than the rest, is what targeted media and public consideration on Chan’s case.

The sight of Chan strolling aimlessly round HKDI, throughout the harbor from Hong Kong Island, with the information that it’s amongst the final instances she was seen alive, is haunting. It is tough to not look for indicators of what she was pondering, of what’s to return.

In 16 movies shot throughout nearly 90 minutes on the night of September 19, Chan — sporting a black tank high and dishevelled, black-and-white striped trousers — appeared to look confused or misplaced, however not overly distressed. Her quick hair, dyed brown, is pulled again from her face, and she clasps her palms in entrance of her as she walks, as soon as stopping and showing to rely on her fingers. She doesn’t take a look at a cellphone or speak to anybody in the footage.

For over an hour, she may be seen pacing round the campus, ready for elevators, strolling round an out of doors space on the roof and by means of a canteen the place different college students are seen huddled over laptops or consuming dinner. At some level, she ditches her bag and then her sneakers, persevering with barefoot.

At round 7 p.m., Chan seems to depart campus. A witness at the inquest into her death testified to seeing her strolling into a close by subway station, however she did not undergo the ticket gate. What occurred between that point and when her physique was found three days later stays unknown.

But whereas that hole in the official report has obsessed many observers, the full story of Chan’s death begins a lot earlier.

Evidence launched throughout the inquest on August 11 painted a image of an more and more disturbed younger lady who, regardless of a number of alternatives, seems to have slipped by means of the cracks with regards to getting her the assist she wanted.

Before her death, Chan lived along with her grandfather, however was in shut contact along with her mom, who mentioned the pair had been “like sisters.” She was not in contact along with her father, who was a drug addict and used to beat her, the court docket heard.

Once a high-achieving scholar, from early 2019, Chan started struggling educationally, and was cycled by means of a variety of faculties in fast succession. Her grades suffered and she received into arguments with different college students.

She started going lacking for prolonged intervals of time, the court docket heard, and in March 2019 she received into a confrontation with police, after which she was positioned in a government-run juvenile residence. There, she tried to strangle herself with a plastic bag and banged her head in opposition to the wall, the court docket heard, forcing workers to ship her to hospital.

This was considered one of the first of Chan’s many interactions with medical professionals, in keeping with proof offered to the court docket. She informed a physician she typically heard voices, however denied having tried to kill herself. The physician analyzing her felt she may be affected by acute stress dysfunction, however was unable to get her to comply with a follow-up examination. Social employees accountable for her, nonetheless, dismissed the incident as an try to get away from the juvenile residence — an opinion Chan solidified by slipping away from them exterior the hospital and disappearing for a number of weeks, the court docket heard.

In May, Chan reemerged and expressed a need to show her life round. She needed to enroll in a design course at HKDI and started trying into part-time work. As protests kicked off that summer season, Chan took half however remained on the periphery, her mom informed the inquest.

Around this time, the court docket heard, she additionally started corresponding with a boy, surnamed Wu, who was being held in the Tong Fuk Correctional Institution, on Lantau Island in western Hong Kong. She later described him as her boyfriend and would go to go to him alongside Wu’s father, the court docket heard.

Two days after she was tear gassed in Tsim Sha Tsui, on August 12, police had been known as to a subway station on Lantau, the place Chan was screaming and shouting, in extreme misery, saying she had misplaced her cellphone and wanted to contact her boyfriend’s father. Police mentioned she refused assist from officers, who then left.

Eventually, Wu’s father arrived at the station, and took Chan to a close by restaurant. There, she continued to behave surprisingly, speaking to individuals on different tables and ordering meals that wasn’t on the menu. After he dropped her off, she mentioned she was going residence, however as a substitute returned to the correctional establishment the place Wu was held, the court docket heard.

She spent the evening sleeping exterior the constructing, and tried to enter in the morning, entering into a confrontation with workers that resulted in her being handcuffed and taken to a close by police station.

During a subsequent examination with a physician, Chan once more reported listening to voices, and became agitated. She was despatched again to the juvenile residence, the place she once more started self-harming, destroying her room and banging her head in opposition to a wall, the court docket heard. She was then transferred to Castle Peak Hospital, a psychological well being facility, the place workers mentioned they’d hassle controlling her and needed to restrain her at one level.

Chan refused to return to the juvenile residence, saying she heard voices when she was there, and complained of not sleeping. A physician gave her a tranquilizer, however dismissed her complaints as indicators of her “being rebellious,” the court docket heard.

This could be the final probability for an intervention that may have saved Chan’s life.

Following the inquest, jurors advisable the Hospital Authority evaluate how follow-ups are performed after psychiatric consultations with juvenile sufferers.

Hong Kong’s Social Welfare Department additionally didn’t reply to a request for remark. In a assertion, Castle Peak Hospital mentioned it had “noted the verdict of the Coroner” and would evaluate “the recommendations made by the jury.”

Final day

Towards the finish of August and into September, Chan’s conduct was principally regular, the court docket heard. She returned residence and quickly enrolled at HKDI, the place she made buddies and gave the impression to be having fun with her lessons.

Yet on September 19, the scenario once more took a flip for the worse. At 3 a.m., her grandfather testified at court docket, he was woken by the sound of Chan tidying her room. She mentioned she was listening to voices and could not sleep. Later that day, at HKDI, she took off her sneakers and lay down on the flooring throughout class, utilizing a backpack as a pillow, the court docket heard.

After class, Chan informed buddies she needed to tidy her locker. She spent nearly half an hour doing so, earlier than buddies persuaded her to depart with them. When they received on the prepare at Tiu Keng Leng station, Chan mentioned she would return to the faculty later to proceed tidying. She refused to take a seat on the subway, as a substitute sitting on the flooring.

Eventually, Chan left her buddies, saying she was heading residence. Instead she returned to HKDI, the place she would spent the final hours of her life, earlier than heading in the direction of a close by waterfront park, proof introduced at the inquest confirmed.

What precisely occurred subsequent is unclear, the essential hole in surveillance and witness testimony that left the jury finally unable to achieve a verdict.

During the inquest, forensic psychiatrist Robyn Ho mentioned Chan’s conduct in the time main as much as her death demonstrated indicators of a potential psychotic break. Ho’s evaluation would seem like supported by Chan’s complaints of listening to voices, her incapacity to sleep — which additionally might have been a contributing issue — and her obsession with tidiness.

The state of decomposition meant that ascertaining the reason behind Chan’s death was inconceivable. But pathologist Garrick Li, who carried out the post-mortem on Chan, mentioned that whereas he couldn’t make certain, there was a “distinct possibility” that she had drowned.

Evidence was launched at the inquest that Chan was bare when she entered the water, an interpretation the jury agreed with in its verdict. A robust swimmer, in keeping with court docket testimony, it appears unlikely that she would select this technique to kill herself, however, whereas in the midst of a psychotic episode, on a sizzling summer season evening, it’s not past perception that she may need determined to go for a swim, with deadly penalties.

In instructing the jury, coroner David Ko dominated out each suicide and “unlawful killing” as the potential causes of Chan’s death, saying there was inadequate proof for both verdict past a cheap doubt, the authorized normal. When her physique was found, it confirmed no indicators of apparent bruising or damage, and no proof of sexual assault or rape, although pathologists admitted that such proof may need disappeared throughout her time in the water.

Ko informed the jury to contemplate whether or not Chan may need died as a results of an accident, or attain an open verdict, basically an admission that the fact can’t be absolutely ascertained. In doing so, the jury cited inadequate forensic proof about precisely how Chan had died, and whether or not a psychological dysfunction or break had brought on her death.

Tragic penalties

Taken alone, Chan’s death is a tragedy, of a younger lady demonstrating indicators of psychological misery, who may need been saved had she obtained the proper assist at the proper time.

For some younger individuals, mentioned Yip, the HKU professional, the protest motion might have saved their lives, offering the sense of neighborhood and solidarity that may be wanted when somebody is at their most weak.

But he was deeply involved at the manner Chan and a number of different deaths linked to the motion have been was so-called “martyrs,” one thing he mentioned risked inspiring copycats — even when the individual might not have deliberately killed themselves.

“Every suicide death for us is a very tragic case, we have to deal with them very carefully, not sensationalize them, not try and glorify them,” he mentioned.

“When people feel very helpless they might think if I die I can stir up so much emotion and energy, and give fuel to the (protest) movement itself, that is very tempting.”

He partially blamed the lengthy delay between Chan’s death and it being investigated by the coroner for giving house for conspiracies to unfold. And he was involved that future circumstances in which confusion or lack of proof round how somebody died might be seized upon in a related manner.

Yam, the University of Kentucky professor, mentioned “while mental illness, especially depression, anxiety, and PTSD, has become more prevalent among Hong Kongers, it continues to be stigmatized.”

“This stigma, coupled with the public’s propensity for anti-government conspiracy theories, may result in a significant public health crisis in Hong Kong, where people are unable to access mental health support,” she added, given that almost all help is offered by the authorities or government-linked our bodies.

She finally tied the difficulty again to the protests, significantly the “lack of police accountability and transparency.”

And this lack of belief is spilling out far past the police, casting a pall over any motion by the authorities, regardless of how a lot officers insist that their motion is in the public curiosity.

In summing up the case, the decide in Chan’s inquest expressed sorrow for her household, significantly the manner her mom had been handled. Before her death, he mentioned, Chan had lastly been capable of research what she needed, and was form to her buddies and household.

“Although there were disputes, I believe (Chan) treated you well,” the decide informed her mom, including he hoped the household would discover a approach to return to regular in time.

As Chan’s case reveals, nonetheless, Hong Kong itself might discover such normality tougher to return by.