A mother's love for her baby touched the heart of an alleged serial killer and persuaded him she was too kind to die, a jury heard yesterday. Chan Ka-chun, 27, told police the woman stirred memories of his childhood, during which he was starved of motherly love. He described how he wrestled with his conscience after making a cement-filled coffin for the victim, who had been held prisoner, robbed and raped. 'It is because I saw her watching TV. There is a new year advert. She saw a kid and thought of her baby. Perhaps because I have lacked mother love since my childhood, I felt she was great,' he said. Chan said he discussed the question of whether to kill the 29-year-old masseuse with an alleged accomplice, Leung Sze-lai, 23. 'I felt it was not necessary to kill her. I thought just let her go even if we would be in trouble. 'I had struggled for a while. For a period of time. It is because I knew that if I did not kill her there, I would die for sure.' The prosecution alleges Chan lured the woman to a holiday villa in Cheung Chau. In a police interview recorded on video, he said: 'We had fully prepared to kill her for certain.' Chan told officers he had shown the victim her coffin and admitted she had 'barely escaped with her life'. The woman, described by Chan as being kind-hearted, was finally released after $10,000 had been withdrawn from her bank account. She later gave the two men another $18,000, it is alleged. Chan has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to murder the woman and to raping her twice in January last year. Chan also denies murdering three nightclub hostesses and plotting to rob all four women. Co-defendant Chan Ki-nang, 29, denies murdering two of the women, Cheung Wah-mei and Tam Ngan-hang, and conspiring to rob them. Leung has admitted raping the masseuse three times and plotting to rob her. He also admits the manslaughter of one of the hostesses, Yu Wai-man. He will be sentenced later. The Court of First Instance trial before Mr Justice Michael Burrell continues next week.
