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SCMP Reporter

Three killers described as worse than animals were jailed for life yesterday for the manslaughter of a nightclub hostess whose skull was stuffed in a Hello Kitty doll.

Handing down the heaviest possible sentence, Mr Justice Peter Nguyen told the killers: 'As far as I'm aware, never in Hong Kong in recent years has a court heard of such cruelty, depravity, callousness, brutality, violence and viciousness . . . the public is entitled to be protected from people such as you.'

Chan Man-lok, 34, Leung Shing-cho, 27, and Leung Wai-lun, 21, were described by the judge as having exhibited a 'manifestly psychopathic tendency' in the brutal killing of Fan Man-yee, 23. They had denied murder but were convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

They should serve at least 20 years before parole should be considered, the judge recommended.

Borrowing the words of prosecutor Michael Arthur, the judge said: 'Even an animal would not have maltreated its same race the way the deceased in this case was treated.'

Fan was tortured for a month while held captive in a flat in Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui from March 17 last year.

The court heard she had been involved in the theft of a wallet containing $4,000 from Chan. Although she paid back the $4,000 and an extra $10,000, the loan shark demanded another $16,000 'interest'.

Fan was beaten almost every day, sometimes with metal water pipes. Her feet were once burned. Her hands were once tied up above her head for hours and she was subjected to a series of humiliating assaults. 'It is difficult to imagine perversion and cruelty worse than that by one human being on another human being,' Mr Justice Nguyen told the Court of First Instance.

Each of the defendants took the witness stand to accuse the others of tormenting Fan, the mother of a young son, while trying to play down their own role.

After she was killed, Fan's body was chopped up and boiled. Her skull was stuffed in a Hello Kitty doll and her internal organs dumped on a shop canopy. The cause of death remains unknown, as only the skull, a tooth and internal organs were recovered.

The killing became public when a teenage witness, haunted by nightmares, went to police.

Chan, a father of two young sons, displayed psychopathic traits such as impulsiveness, irresponsibility, remorselessness and lack of empathy, a psychological assessment revealed. 'The long-term torture towards the victim [and] sadistic behaviour in dismembering may reflect the psychopathic tendency,' the assessment read.

Leung Shing-cho, a triad follower of Chan, was described as having 'a clear anti-social personality' and was closely identified with the criminal subculture.

Leung Wai-lun, who came from a dysfunctional family, expressed little sorrow for Fan and said he beat her up for fun.

'I conclude the offences show ample instability in your characters and this coupled with the need to protect the public justifies a life term in respect of each of you,' Mr Justice Nguyen said.

The judge also sentenced the trio to lesser terms on counts of false imprisonment and preventing the lawful burial of a corpse, to be served concurrently to the life terms.

Defence counsel Hanif Mughal, Ian Polson and Andrew Raffell said their clients would consider appealing against the conviction and sentence.



Judge says public must be protected as he hands down life terms for torture-killing of hostess