Trio charged with murder over 2008 Hong Kong McDonald’s killing after being caught by mainland Chinese police
Group thought to be have been part of gang of nine men who brutally beat 25-year-old Poon Ka-yan in the fast-food restaurant in Tin Shui Wai
Three Hongkongers arrested in connection with the death of a 25-year-old man at a McDonald’s outlet in the New Territories about 10 years ago have been jointly charged with murder.
The three men, accused of killing transport worker Poon Ka-yan in the restaurant at Tin Shui Estate in Tin Shui Wai on October 5, 2008, in a brutal beating that involved six other men, were handed over to local police by Guangdong province security officers at the Huanggang border checkpoint in Shenzhen on Monday.
The trio were arrested after they were discovered to have fled Hong Kong for the mainland. They were then arrested in connection with the murder.
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Detectives from New Territories North regional crime unit were handling the case.
Four other men were jailed after being found guilty of manslaughter or murder in court in 2010 and 2012.
The three suspects, sent back to the city from the mainland on Monday, were hooded and handcuffed when they were individually escorted on Tuesday by police to the scene of the alleged crime. Each was asked to reconstruct the incident at the McDonald’s outlet in Tin Shui Commercial Complex off Tin Shui Road.
A human-sized dummy was used in the video reconstruction inside the restaurant, which was closed to facilitate the police investigation.
On Tuesday afternoon, the three suspects were being held at Yuen Long police station.
In 2012, Ng Pak-lun, 22, and Lam Siu-fung, 26, were found guilty of murdering Poon and jailed for life. This was also a retrial that was ordered for Ng in 2011 after the Court of Appeal quashed his first conviction because a court interpreter omitted some words while translating the trail judge’s direction from English to Cantonese.
Two other assailants, Cheung Kwok-ho and Bo Ka-shing, 19 and 25, were jailed in 2010 for four years and five-and-a-half years respectively after they pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
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The court had heard that on the day of the attack Ng called a gang of eight men to confront the victim in the McDonald’s restaurant at about 3am.
After a heated verbal exchange, they snatched a rod Poon had been using to defend himself. They pushed him to the floor, kicked him repeatedly and attacked him with the metal rod, an umbrella stand and plastic bread trays. Poon died of multiple head injuries.
“Hong Kong police were grateful for the invaluable assistance rendered by the Ministry of Public Security, Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department and Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, which resulted in the arrest of the three suspects who absconded to the mainland for over nine years,” a police spokesman said.
“The arrest of the suspects in the mainland strengthened the determination of the police in Hong Kong and the mainland to fight crime and uphold the rule of law.”
The case is to be mentioned at Tuen Mun Court on Wednesday.
