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SINGAPORE: As the trial went into its eighth day, details emerged on Wednesday of the 94-year-old woman who is suing OCBC for not letting her close her bank account.
A former teacher, Mdm Hwang Cheng Tsu Hsu, was born in Mei Xian county, Guandong province, China. Her father was one of the founders of the Bank of China (BOC), and she had three siblings.
The family moved to Hong Kong when Mdm Hwang was six years old. After obtaining her university education, she went to Australia to teach Chinese in an English school.
She met her husband, who also worked in BOC, through mutual friends. When he was posted to Singapore, Mdm Hwang accompanied him and became a Chinese teacher at Chung Cheng High School.
In the 1960s, she adopted Ms Amy Hsu Ann Mei and retired from work to look after her when the girl turned four.
These details were narrated by Mdm Hwang to senior consultant psychiatrist Francis Ngui on Jan 15, 2009 when she was ordered by the court to take a psychiatric assessment.
Taking the stand on Wednesday, Dr Ngui told the court that Mdm Hwang, who has been suffering from dementia since 2000, was an "emotionally feisty elderly lady with a witty personality".
She told Dr Ngui that she was very annoyed that OCBC had locked up her money unreasonably. Mdm Hwang said she wanted to use the money to travel and buy property. She also wanted Ms Hsu to look after her money if her memory worsened.
She spoke clearly and had a knack for deflecting questions when she could not come up with the answers, said Dr Ngui.
For instance, when she was unable to name the Prime Minister and the President, Mdm Hwang said: "I can recognise his face. His name is 'President', that's good enough."
When Dr Ngui visited Mdm Hwang's house last August for a second assessment, the elderly woman was frail and her short-term memory was "significantly impaired".
Based on his interview with Mdm Hwang in January 2009, Dr Ngui told the court that she "had an independent mind of her own" and was "adamant" about closing her OCBC account.
He added that "the presence of dementia is not synonymous with being mentally incompetent to make financial decisions" and it must be severe enough to affect her judgement for her to be deemed incompetent.
Mdm Hwang wanted to close her OCBC account in May 2008 after the bank refused to let her open a joint account with Ms Hsu. The bank refused both requests because it was doubtful of Mdm Hwang's mental capacity to give instructions.
The trial continues. - TODAY
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