Boyfriend of pregnant Hong Kong woman killed in Taiwan may face further charges
Chan Tong-kai, 19, who was on holiday with victim Poon Hiu-wing, 20, is accused of theft and receiving stolen goods belonging to her
Prosecutors of a 19-year-old Hongkonger charged with theft and handling stolen goods after his girlfriend’s alleged murder in Taiwan revealed for the first time in court on Thursday that they were looking into pressing more charges.
The news came less than a week after Taiwanese prosecutors sought help from Hong Kong authorities upon discovering Poon Hiu-wing, 20, was three months pregnant when she was killed while on holiday with her boyfriend, Chan Tong-kai, in February.
Chan, who returned to Hong Kong alone on February 17, is currently remanded in the city after being charged in March with two counts of theft and one of handling stolen goods.
On Thursday, acting senior public prosecutor Claudia Ko Hoi-yee asked for the case to be adjourned for another eight weeks before Chan enters a plea at Kwun Tong Court.
“More time is needed for further inquiries on the possibility of adding new charges,” Ko told magistrate Chu Chung-keung.
Chan’s defence counsel, Ronny Leung, did not object but asked for prosecutors to speed up the handling of the present charges.
“Police have already conducted a lot of investigations,” he said, referring to video-recorded interviews, CCTV footage and bank records. “Police have all the information needed. Hopefully this is the last adjournment.”
Leung also asked for a media gag over his request in case potential jurors were prejudiced by what he said when the case went to a higher court. The magistrate dismissed the application.
Hong Kong woman murdered in Taiwan was pregnant, prosecutors say
No bail application was made.
Chan will be remanded until the case returns to the same court on July 5.
Hong Kong prosecutors allege Chan dishonestly received stolen goods belonging to his girlfriend, including an HSBC bank card, a Casio camera, an iPhone 6 and NT$20,000 (US$2,560).
He was further accused of stealing money from Poon’s Hang Seng Bank account on two occasions between February 21 and 23 via a cash machine at Plaza Hollywood in Diamond Hill. He allegedly took HK$10,000 (US$1,280) on the first occasion and HK$8,500 on the second.
