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Cliff Buddle

A High Court judge has expressed concern over police blunders which may have allowed a killer to escape a murder trial.

   Mr Justice Frank Stock said it was 'unfortunate' important lines of inquiry had not been pursued.

   The prosecution yesterday allowed Chan Hon-fai, 21, to plead guilty to the manslaughter of his father.

   The judge had blocked the move last week urging senior Legal Department lawyers to consider putting him on trial for murder.

   He asked if further inquiries could be made about the victim's missing $100,000 life savings, believed to have been withdrawn soon before his death.

   The judge was also suspicious of Chan's frequent trips to Macau which were made after the killing.

  'I think it unfortunate that these inquiries were not pursued,' he said.

  But after hearing yesterday that investigations at this stage were unlikely to produce more evidence, Mr Justice Stock agreed to accept the admission to manslaughter.

  He said: 'I am certainly not in a position to disapprove of the course the Crown has now adopted.'   Prosecutor John Mullick said there was an unfortunate history of unhappiness between the father and son which had led Chan Hon-fai to kill his father during a fight.

  'A plea of guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of provocation can be justifiably accepted,' he added.

  He accepted it would have been better if the police had inquired about the missing money.

   But Chan was not arrested until two years after the killing and by then, the trail may have gone cold.

  Chan had been asked about his visits to Macau and claimed he had a job there, Mr Mullick added.

  The son battered his father, Chan Kot, 48, to death after being attacked by him during a row on April 9, 1994, the court heard.

  He wrapped the victim's head in a plastic bag, put the body in a box, and wheeled it in a hand cart to Devil's Hill, near Rennie's Mill.

  Chan poured petrol on the body and set it ablaze. He even exchanged greetings with a neighbour while wheeling the cart away from the scene.

  The burning of the body started a bush fire and the charred remains were found by firemen.

  When questioned, Chan admitted striking out at his father in anger, leaving him bleeding on the floor.

  He panicked and decided to burn the body 'so nobody would know'.

  Charlotte Draycott, defending, said Chan had been 'provoked beyond endurance' and was in a frenzy at the time of the killing.

  The judge ordered background reports and will sentence Chan next month.



Police accused as killer admits lesser offence