A MAN in Nanshan District, who has been suffering from a mental disorder, killed his two daughters in a recent family tragedy, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

    The 42-year-old man, surnamed Xu, lives in Yangguang Yayuan housing estate. His two daughters were 10 and 7 years old and would have been entering their fifth and second years of primary school if they hadn’t been killed July 31.

    According to their mother, identified as Yao, Xu has a mental disorder, for which he had received treatment at Kangning Hospital on three occasions. Yao said her elderly daughter died in the toilet, while the younger one died in bed. They both had their necks slashed.

    Yao couldn’t make sense of the brutal killing, since, despite his illness, “Xu doesn’t even dare to kill a chicken.”

    At around 7 a.m. that day, Yao went to a wet market for groceries. When she returned at around 8:20 a.m., nobody answered the door. Yao was in a panic, but finally Xu opened the door, leaving Yao in astonishment to see her two daughters lying in pools of blood.

    Xu’s battle with mental illness began at the end of 2013 as symptoms such as mumbling to himself unclearly and claiming that someone was stalking him and attempting to kill him began to manifest.

    Xu’s medical reports show that he had begun receiving treatment for his condition in January 2015, and in October 2015 was committed to the hospital for further treatment. During one hospital treatment, Xu attacked and verbally abused medical workers. But his condition improved in June and he was willing to take his medication, said Yao.

    Nanshan District police have filed the case and started an investigation. Yao hopes that her husband is sentenced to death because his cruelty is unacceptable. Otherwise, she said, it would be unfair for her two daughters.

    (Han Ximin)