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SCMP Reporter

THE youngest of five youths who murdered two Island School students as they sat studying on Braemar Hill eight years ago has pleaded for their parents to forgive him.

  Won Sam-lung, now 23, wrote to the South China Morning Post ''I sincerely say sorry to the families of the victims'' for what he had done.

  ''I know it is too late,'' he said, adding that he did not expect to be forgiven. ''I just wish to express my remorse.''   Won, detained at Her Majesty's pleasure, was the only one of the five to confess his part in the teenagers' murder, the brutality of which shocked Hong Kong.

  In his letter from the Pik Uk Correctional Institute, Won said he hoped the families of his victims would listen to his apology.

  His life had been renewed after admitting the charge and he had become a Christian, he said.

  ''Although I am still in prison, I am not the same as before.''   Won said he decided to write the letter after he heard that a film had been made about the murders.

  He said he could not believe that someone was trying to profit out of the deaths of the two teenagers.

  ''It is beyond belief that there [is] such a film-maker [with] such an idea to make [a] profit by only taking advantage of the name of a notorious case, which most of Hong Kong people know about, without telling the true story,'' Won said in the letter.

  ''It [will] do no good but hurt the families of the victims,'' he said.

  He was surprised to find that the film was finally approved for release only after the title was changed, while the content remained largely the same.

  ''It is really unfair to the families of the victims as it will make their painful memories [keep flashing] back.

  ''It is my shame that there is nothing I [can] do to stop the film [from being released],'' he wrote.

  Island School students Kenneth McBride, 17, and Nicola Myers, 18, were killed in a park near Braemar Hill in April 1985.

  Three of their murderers were sentenced to death in January 1987, another was jailed indefinitely for the murders. As Won had confessed earlier, he was sentenced to detention at Her Majesty's pleasure.

  The intense publicity which surrounded the case died down following the conviction, only to be brought up again last May when a preview of the Category III film, The Bo Ma (Braemar) Hill Murders, was shown in cinemas.

  The families of the victims protested to the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA), calling for a total ban on the film.

  The film was put on show three weeks later after the title was changed to The Suburb Murders and a number of shots edited to avoid any relation with the murder.

  Chief entertainment standards control officer of TELA's film section, Camy Mak, said it approved the film the first time it was sent for censorship because there was no complaint about it.

  But later there was a complaint and the film was referred to the board of review, which decided that the title and some of the context had to be changed before it could be released, Ms Mak said.

  She said all films would be censored by the same standards. TELA did not have any special guidelines for movies which were based on real-life incidents.

  Over the past 18 months, more than 55 per cent of Category III films sent to TELA had to be edited. Seven movies were banned for showing excessive violence or sex.

  Producer Gin Lau Siu-kwan said the film-makers had tried to shoot the film in a way close to the real case but admitted they had exaggerated sometimes to attract an audience.

  ''Our objective is to make money. We have no intention whatsoever to hurt anybody,'' Mr Lau said.

  He pointed out that there were a number of films showing all based on real-life incidents, but they were not required to make any cuts or alterations.

  ''This is unfair. It is just that there are expatriates involved in our case which has created so much controversy,'' he said.

  Although profit was disappointing this time, they would continue to shoot similar films because Hong Kong people liked them, Mr Lau said.

  The film was shown for two weeks between June and July and tickets receipts amounted to less than $2 million, half of the makers' expectations, he said.



Braemar Hill killer says sorry