Sau Mau Ping Gangs Corpse Burning Case in Hong Kong

Do you know there was a murder case in Hong Kong that involved 14 teenagers?

No, the teenagers are not the victims. They are the murderers. And they were not even legal by that time.

It all happened back in 1997. The victim, Luk Chi Wai, was a 16 year old boy who lived in Sau Mau Ping Estate (Kung Tong District, Kowloon). Luk were friends with a group of teenage gang members and usually hung around with them. This just sounds like a bunch of juvenile delinquents messing around, right?

Until they kept on bullying a 37 year old mentally ill cleaner, Chan, who worked in that residential estate.

Maybe deep down, Luk was a good kid, or maybe the gang really was going too far…whatever the reason was, Luk could not stand that bullying. He told Chan to report the case to the police.

The teenage gang felt betrayed and decided to “punish” Luk for this.

The gang lured Luk to where Chan lived, locked him up and abused him.

They stomped on Luk’s arms, clamped his head with folding chair, whipped him with belt, bet him with iron pipe and even slammed his head against the floor…Poor Luk didn’t last long under the torture. After they found out Luk was dead, they dragged him to the garbage room nearby and burnt his corpse, attempting to cover for their bad deeds.

The case was not revealed until Chan went to see the doctor. The doctor thought Chan’s injury was too suspicious and had the police investigate, finally exposing the shocking murder.

The judge Wong Kin Chow was very furious about their doing. He criticized them for showing no remorse and said the victim might have survived if they were willing to look for help. While on the other hand, Wong felt sad for what has happened and urged the society not to ignore teenage problems.

Four of the gang members were first sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, while others were either charged with manslaughter, assault or unlawful disposal of body. After appealing in 2001, the four convicts’ punishment got changed to 20-something years in jail instead of life imprisonment.

Most of them are going to be released in these few years.

I wonder how many of them could turn over a new leaf and atone for what they have done?

And more importantly, will the society give them one more chance?

Death Penalty in Hong Kong

Do you know that death penalty in Hong Kong was not abolished until 1993?

In the early years, executions were mainly carried out in form of decapitation (like that of the Qing government), and usually took place in the opening in Kowloon Walled City. At that time, the executions were open to public. They were later carried out inside the prisons for humanitarian reasons (seriously, who except psychopaths would enjoy seeing people‘s head chopped off?).

Later, hanging, instead of decapitation, was practiced. Death penalty was usually reserved for serious crimes like kidnapping and murder. The hangings would usually be carried out in early morning, when other prisoners were still asleep. The death rows would be standing on a platform, with the noose around their neck. The executor would then pull the lever, opening the drop below the death rows, and then…you know the rest.

The executors would receive bonus every time they pull the trigger (haha…oh I shouldn’t be laughing). The prisons got to keep all the belongings the death rows had, including their bodies. Therefore not even the death rows’ families were allowed to retrieve them.

The last execution was carried out in 1966. After that, all capital punishments were changed to life imprisonments under Hong Kong governors’ prerogative of mercy.

However in 1973, the Tsoi Kwok Cheung case heated up the debate of whether he should be executed. Lots of Hongkongers, and even the Governor at that time (Sir Murray MacLehose) agreed that Tsoi should be executed. But after Tsoi’s petition, Queen Elizabeth decided to grant Tsoi a pardon. The decision led to Hongkongers’ disappointment and widespread criticism, with politicians and officials condemning the British Government for “going against the public” and “having political motives”.

After years of debate, death penalty was officially abolished in 1993, under the Offences Against the Person Ordinance. Life imprisonment has become the most severe punishment in Hong Kong since then.