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SCMP Reporter

A wife who plotted 'the cold-blooded murder' of her husband after he shot her pet rabbit was sentenced yesterday to 18 years in prison.

 Wu Nim-yam, 25, spent three months hatching the murder with her lover - toy designer Lai Sik-hung, 27.

 On December 30, last year, while she dined with friends at a restaurant, Lai took her husband, Wu Wai-yip, 27, on a fishing trip and stabbed him to death.

 Mr Justice Frank Stock called the conspiracy and the murder a 'plan of cold-blooded vengeance'.

 Lai admitted stabbing Wu in the chest 23 times, but claimed it was self-defence. He said Wu attacked him after learning of the affair.

 But yesterday the jury in the Court of First Instance found Lai guilty of murder and conspiracy to murder. He was given 24 years for the conspiracy and life for murder. Wu Nim-yam admitted conspiring to kill Wu. Mr Justice Stock said Wu Nim-yam was the prime mover in the murder scheme. When Lai at first lacked the courage to kill his friend, 'he was cajoled by you to kill your husband'.

 'You showed a firm resolve to have your husband executed by your lover,' the judge said.

 The cosmetics sales assistant claimed she was trapped in a loveless marriage to a husband who abused her.

 Barrister Robert Buchanan, for the wife, said Wu had stopped working and forced his wife to pay the bills. He repeatedly beat her and 'acted like a child'.

 Wu Nim-yam began to detest her 'ill-tempered husband, who had shot her pet rabbit'. But she found 'love and compassion' in the arms of Lai, Mr Buchanan said.

 But Mr Justice Stock called the murder a 'cold-blooded and determined' plan conceived by Wu Nim-yam, who showed 'not a vestige of remorse'.

 'The courts will always have sympathy for wives who are unhappy and not treated well by their husbands, but this was no sudden idea carried out while in the heat or rage of passion,' Mr Justice Stock said.

 'The coldness is illustrated by the fact you both kept the company of the man you knew you were going to murder.'  The court heard that five days after the midnight murder and while Lai was being questioned by police, Wu Nim-yam sent him a love letter. 'We should have the future we want, but it may occur about 10 years later,' the letter said.



Rabbit revenge killing sends lovers to jail