The judge in the trial of a man sentenced to life over the death of a bar hostess misdirected the jury, appeal court rules A man jailed for life in the infamous Hello Kitty manslaughter trial had his conviction overturned by the Court of Appeal yesterday. The three appeal judges ruled that trial judge Mr Justice Peter Nguyen misdirected the jury when summing up the case on Leung Shing-cho, 29, which amounted to a miscarriage of justice. Vice-president Mr Justice Michael Stuart-Moore, sitting with Mr Justice Frank Stock and Mr Justice Conrad Seagroatt, said the trial judge failed to indicate sufficiently to the jury how and in what circumstances Leung could be convicted if he was not at the crime scene when Fan Man-yee died as a result of a beating at the hands of others. There were other 'shortcomings' as the judge also failed to deal with the possibility of Leung's withdrawal from the venture, the judgment handed down yesterday said. 'There were material irregularities arising from the omissions in the directions regarding [Leung] as to joint enterprise and his possible withdrawal from the joint venture. Accordingly, [Leung's] conviction for manslaughter will be quashed,' the judges ruled. But Leung's fate is still hanging in the balance as the Court of Appeal is due to decide whether a re-trial should be ordered on the manslaughter charge after hearing a submission from his barrister, Richard Donald. Two co-defendants, Chan Man-lok, 36, and Leung Wai-lun, 23, who also were jailed for life for the 1999 killing of the nightclub hostess whose skull was stuffed in a Hello Kitty doll, failed to overturn the manslaughter conviction. In 2000, the three defendants were cleared of murdering mother-of-one, Fan, 23, but they were convicted of manslaughter. They were also convicted of false imprisonment and preventing the lawful burial of her body. Mr Justice Nguyen jailed them for life and recommended they serve at least 20 years before parole was considered. Leung Shing-cho is still in custody serving his sentence for the other two offences. Details of the month-long torture of Fan in a flat in Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, and the gruesome disposal of her body emerged during the trial. The court heard Fan had drinking straws melted on to the soles of her feet, chilli oil poured on her wounds and she was strung up by the hands and left hanging for hours while being beaten with iron bars. Fan's body was chopped up and boiled. Her skull was stuffed in a Hello Kitty mermaid and her internal organs dumped on a shop canopy. The cause of death remains unknown. The killing was reported to the police by a teenage witness, who was haunted by nightmares. The Court of Appeal is also due to hear submissions from the other two defendants for their appeal against sentence. gruesome saga A nightclub hostess is tortured to death Three men are convicted of manslaughter Appeal court quashes life sentence of one of the men
