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Alex Lo

Patsy Moy

A wealthy businessman was shot dead in an apparent contract killing yesterday as he ate breakfast during the morning rush hour in Hong Kong's most famous teahouse.

Shortly after 9am, a Putonghua-speaking hitman - who had eaten breakfast and paid his bill in the Luk Yu Tea House in Stanley Street, Central - calmly walked up behind Harry Lam Hon-lit, 54, and fired a single shot into the back of his head.

Terrified customers ran out of the restaurant as the gunman escaped. Police were still hunting for him last night.

Lam was a former race horse owner, a director of Hong Kong-based Digger Holdings and an investor in Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, Asia's largest golf facility.

He died after being rushed to Queen Mary Hospital.

One customer who witnessed yesterday's murder, a Mr Chau, said: 'I heard a loud gunshot as I was standing near the cashier's counter. I turned and saw a man on the floor bleeding.

'Other people in the teahouse were very scared and ran out into the street.'

Police at the scene could not find the bullet casing and believe the murderer picked it up from the floor before making his escape.

Investigators say the execution-style killing was the work of a professional.

The Hong Kong Island Regional Crime Unit and the force's Criminal Intelligence Bureau have taken over the case.

Police said the gunman had eaten in the teahouse on Friday morning and returned about the same time yesterday.

Witnesses told police that the killer took his time over breakfast before walking over to Lam's table and shooting him behind the left ear.

The bullet exited through his right temple, said Alan Man Chi-hung, senior superintendent of Hong Kong Island regional headquarters.

The victim had been eating breakfast with three friends on the ground floor of the three-storey restaurant. There were about 30 customers and waiters on the ground floor at the time of the shooting.

After he had shot Lam the killer ran into Stanley Street and disappeared.

There are no security cameras on the premises.

The suspect was in his 30s, about 1.62m tall, thin, and wore a white shirt and black trousers.

Lam dropped in at the teahouse almost every morning, according to waiters.

A newspaper hawker called Cheng, who worked outside the teahouse, said Lam bought newspapers from him every morning.

'I did not see or hear anything at first, then all of a sudden women were running out from the restaurant, screaming. They looked really frightened,' he said.

In a writ filed in March in the High Court, Lam's company, Digger Holdings, sued Mission Hills Golf Club for US$27.13 million (HK$211.55 million) over unsold memberships.

In 1996 the club allegedly agreed to buy back the memberships from Digger at 50 per cent more than the original cost, but less than a year later it disclosed that it did not have enough money to make the transaction, according to the writ.

Lam's murder was the second execution-style killing in Hong Kong in less than two weeks.

On November 19, Fung Yiu-hau, 33, a senior member of the Wo On Lok triad group, was shot three times at close-range after being made to kneel on a remote path near Yung Shue O in Sai Kung West Country Park.



Diners flee teahouse execution