Life sentences for Hong Kong pair who suffocated man with tape in village temple
Defendants, aged 67 and 33, wrapped tape round victim’s head, stabbed him twice and then buried his body outside temple
Two Hongkongers have been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a man by suffocating him with tape in a village temple and burying his body under concrete outside, with a judge describing the killing as hideous “beyond words”.
Kwok described the killing as “brutal, callous and premeditated”, noting that evidence showed the victim died of suffocation after tape was wrapped around his head and that he was also stabbed twice in the chest.
“It is beyond words to imagine the hideous crime that [the defendants] committed,” he said during sentencing.
The judge said the jury’s unanimous verdict on the murder charge against both defendants showed that they were all convinced the pair had acted with intent to kill.
During the trial, the court heard that the victim operated a gambling website from which Chan Wah-hing had won about HK$2 million (US$256,400). Chan had been pursuing the winnings and enlisted the help of the second defendant.