LUU:BAKER BATTERED WIFE WITH CLUB HAMMER AS SHE SLEPT BESIDE HIM

A baker who attacked his wife with a club hammer as she slept beside him is facing a indeterminate spell in hospital to treat his paranoid delusions.

Cuong Luu, 63, only dropped the tool when his two sons burst in after hearing screams from their parents’ bedroom.

He left his wife of 21 years Yeouk Luu, 57, with multiple fractures to her skull and face, and a neck so swollen that a tube had to be inserted to help her to breathe.

Luu had originally faced trial for attempted murder, but doctors had argued he did not have the mental capacity to be found guilty of the attack.

He admitted grievous bodily harm, a plea accepted by the prosecution.

Adam Wiseman, representing Luu, said that he arrived in the UK from his native Cambodia 30 years ago, and had worked as a bread maker at a Vietnamese bakery, though he is currently unemployed.

He met his wife through a personal ad in a local newspaper, and have two sons, Jimmy, 20, and Tony, 18, who suffers from autism, the court heard.

‘There has been no history of violence and it seems a happy marriage with no history of animosity or threats,’ he said.

Mrs Luu had always shared a bedroom with Tony, while her husband slept in another room, but days before the attack, their son had decided he was old enough to have his own room.

The couple moved into the same bedroom at the house in Lea Hall Gardens, Leyton, with Mrs Luu taking a double bed and her husband in a single bed.

‘It is right that the set up of the house was every house had hammers in it, in the event of intruders,’ said Mr Wiseman.

Just after midnight in the early hours of December 4 last year, he picked up a hammer and attacked his wife.

Their sons ran into the room and later called the police and ambulance, who took Mrs Luu to the Royal London Hospital.

She had swellings and cuts to her face, and scans revealed a fractured skull and multiple fractures on her face around her eye, cheekbone and jaw.

Her neck was also so swollen that a tube was inserted to help her breathing.

Mrs Luu spent 13 days in hospital before finally being discharged.

Doctors examining her husband, who has no previous convictions, found that he was suffering from a paranoid delusional psychosis.

They have indicated he is likely to need to be detained for treatment for an indefinite period until he is deemed safe to be released.

When asked to enter his plea to inflicting grievous bodily harm he asked his lawyer ‘Should I say guilty?’ before admitting the charge.

Judge Martyn Zeidman told him: ‘I congratulate you on having the wisdom to follow the good advice you have received.

‘It takes courage to do so, and you have shown that courage.’

He adjourned sentencing until September 15, when the court will hear evidence from a doctor treating Luu as to his mental health and whether he presents a risk to others.

‘In sentencing on this, my primary consideration is to protect the public and to do what is in your best interests,’ the judge told Luu.

‘I regard it as very likely, though I am not making a decision today, that there will be a hospital order.’
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