Advertisement
Advertisement

How a bloodstained jacket led police to hit man

Fox Yi Hu

It seemed like a scene from a movie: the former PLA soldier strode out of Luk Yu Tea House as blood spilled across tables and onto the breakfasts of horrified customers.

Lying dead was Harry Lam Hon-lit, a director of Digger Holdings and an investor in the Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen who frequented the tea house in Stanley Street, Central. He met his death on the morning of November 30, 2002, when contract killer Yang Wen held his neck and pointed a handgun at his head.

On the same day, Hong Kong police found a backpack containing a bloodstained jacket and a handgun at a fast-food restaurant in the Shun Tak Centre, Sheung Wan. DNA tests confirmed the blood stains were from Lam.

After checking border-crossing records, police zeroed in on a mainland suspect who had left Hong Kong that day, and found the people who had prepared his passport in Zhuhai.

Just two weeks after the killing, mainland police arrested Zhang Zhixin, 34, a former soldier who had planned the murder with Yang. On December 16, 2002, Hunan resident Wu Weiwu was detained on a charge of arranging a hideout for Zhang and Yang.

On December 18, 2002, Hong Kong resident Tse Bing was arrested in Yunnan province. The 48-year-old frequenter of Macau casinos had paid Zhang and Yang HK$400,000 and arranged for them to come to Hong Kong.

But Tse did not appear to be the mastermind. He received about HK$1.1 million from Hong Kong triad boss Lau Yat-yin to do the job, although Lau had initially offered HK$2 million. Lau, the ringleader of a large Hunanese gang, was arrested in Hong Kong on November 28, 2003. The case attracted greater public interest when former actor Yeung Ka-on was detained on a trip to Shenzhen on December 2, 2005. Yeung's nephew, Ho Ho-fu, and driver Tsui Ming-yeung were arrested on the same trip.

Instructed by Yeung, Ho and Tsui passed an envelope containing Lam's photo to Lau, but both maintained they did not know what was inside the envelope.

The eight defendants went on trial last October at the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court.

Post