A PLAYBOY on trial in the High Court for the murder of his air hostess girlfriend, Miss Brenda Wong Tze-kwan, claimed that he loved her and had intended to marry her.
But about a month later, Patrick David Wong received a letter from Ms Wong from London in which she said she wanted to break off the relationship because she had seen him with another woman, Kitty Yu Mo-ling.
Wong, who was giving evidence in his defence, told Mr Justice Duffy and the jury that it was all a misunderstanding and that they never separated but continued with their relationship.
Wong, 36, an American citizen and Yu, 30, have denied the murder of Ms Wong, 28, a senior purser with Cathay Pacific in May 1989. They are being re-tried. Ms Wong's body was wrapped in plastic food film and put in a trunk into which caustic soda was poured.
The police were called when a clergyman living below smelt a ''strong stench'' from the flat. The Crown alleges that after Ms Wong's death her credit cards were used to buy $40,000 in gold ornaments.
Wong told the court that he returned to Hongkong from the United States, where he was working, when his mother fell ill. She later died.