Hello Kitty murder

No. 31 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, where the victim was held before her murder.

The Hello Kitty Murder was a 1999 case in which a nightclub hostess was kidnapped and tortured in an apartment in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. She died over a month later, either by drug overdose or at the hands of the abductors. She was decapitated and her head was shoved into a Hello Kitty doll, hence the name of the case.[1] The case was deemed as the fourth most shocking murder case in Hong Kong, after Lam Kor-wan's murder case (1982), Happy Valley's murder case (1974) and Tuen Mun's murder case (1992-1993).

Case

A 23-year-old night club hostess by the name of Fan Man-yee (樊敏儀) was kidnapped by three men: 34-year-old Chan Man-lok (陳文樂), 27-year-old Leung Shing-cho (梁勝祖) and 21-year-old Leung Wai-lun (梁偉倫). They took her to an apartment at No. 31 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui,[2] where they imprisoned her. They beat and tortured her daily over a debt dispute of HK$20,000 (US$2,560).[1][3]

After a month of imprisonment and torture, she was killed, dismembered, and her skull was stuffed into a giant Hello Kitty mermaid doll. They discarded most of the other body parts. Only the woman's skull, one tooth, and some internal organs were recovered.[3]

The murder quickly became a sensational story in the media.

Court case

The three men were convicted of manslaughter because the remains could not identify exactly how she died.

Justice Peter Nguyen, who sentenced the trio to life in prison, said, "Never in Hong Kong in recent years has a court heard of such cruelty, depravity, callousness, brutality, violence and viciousness." The trio were convicted of manslaughter and unlawful imprisonment by a jury of the Court of First Instance after a six-week trial. They revealed it to be one of the most gruesome cases in the territory.[3]

Psychiatric reports described the three, members of a secret triad gang society, as "remorseless and pitiful". The jury accepted that the men did not kill 23-year-old Fan Man-yee with intent, which would have meant a mandatory life sentence, but it was determined she died as a result of their abuse. There will be no review for parole for 20 years.[4]

Aftermath

The publicity around the case resulted in the production and release of films that told the story. Both Human Pork Chop (烹屍之喪盡天良) and There is a Secret in my Soup were released in 2001.

The apartment building in which the crime took place was demolished in September 2012 and has been rebuilt as a hotel in 2016.

References

  1. 1 2 " 妙齡女郎慘遭殘酷碎尸 三名疑犯陸續落網". People's Daily. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  2. ↑ Tiffany Lam, "Haunted Hong Kong: Read if you dare", CNN GO, 25 October 2011
  3. 1 2 3 "Trio sentenced to life in jail for gruesome killing in H.K." Asian Economic News, 11 December 2000. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  4. ↑ "Life for 'Hello Kitty' Killers". ABC News. Retrieved 1 October 2016.

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