The mother of a woman who died in Taiwan in 2018, allegedly at the hands of the daughter’s boyfriend, said she would never be able to move on from the trauma, with the suspect’s promise of turning himself in as yet unrealized.

Chan Tong-kai is suspected of killing his girlfriend, Poon Hiu-wing, during the pair’s trip to Taiwan in 2018. He fled back to Hong Kong right afterwards but could not be charged with murder in the city, and was instead convicted of money laundering. Upon his release from jail last October, Chan said he would surrender himself to Taiwanese authorities, but almost a year later, he is still living under Hong Kong police protection.

Poon’s parents wrote an open letter this week urging Chan to fulfil his promise. On Tuesday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that the government could not do much, and she hoped Poon’s parents would let go of the incident. Lam last year used Chan’s murder case as the reason to push through a controversial extradition bill that was later withdrawn after mass protests.

Poon’s mother told Apple Daily that she still missed her only daughter. The incident had broken up their happy family, leaving them with no hope, she said.

She once thought of committing suicide, but decided she had to live to see justice, she said. The mother slipped into depression and had to take medication to sleep, although she sounded more relaxed when recalling time spent with her daughter during a phone call with Apple Daily.

They were born in the same month, Mrs Poon said, and her daughter would organize surprise celebrations for her. They would also travel two or three times a year. Poon Hiu-wing was a good daughter to her father and grandmother, she recalled as she became emotional.

It remained painful for Mrs Poon to accept the fact that her daughter was murdered. She said she did not have the courage to identify the body, which according to her husband had been decomposed to the bones. She would still have nightmares about her daughter.

Responding to Lam’s remarks, Mrs Poon said she would never be able to move on and asked the public to put pressure on the government to follow up with the incident.

In their open letter, Poon’s parents called on Chan to take responsibility and stop making them wait forever. They said he could go to Taiwan on flights run by the island’s carriers and should not wait until travel restrictions were lifted.

Taiwan’s Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung said the Mainland Affairs Council had established a unit specifically for the incident and would provide any necessary assistance. The island’s criminal police, aviation police and immigration authorities would work with one another to handle the case in accordance with the law, he said.

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