Sentencing adjourned until trials of their four co-accused are completed
Two 16-year-old boys have admitted their roles in the brutal chopping of seven-year-old Shum Ho-yin in Tsuen Wan that shocked the community last year.
The Court of First Instance yesterday heard Lo Ka-ho, the masked chopper-wielder who hacked the boy's right forearm and wrist six times, said he had 'sharpened' the knife because he was told 'the boy's hand must be chopped off' in return for a $10,000 reward.
Lo and Chan Chin-hong, Form Four students, pleaded guilty yesterday to a joint charge of wounding with intent on August 25 outside Lei Muk Shue Estate.
Lo also pleaded guilty to a separate charge of common assault on the boy a month before the chopping attack, in which he kicked the boy in the back at the same site.
The court heard that the same man, identified only as Ah Foo in the prosecution's summary of facts submitted to the court, hired Lo to carry out the two attacks.
Lo told the court Ah Foo refused to pay for the first job. Ah Foo had told Lo that the mastermind of the attack, Shum's 21-year-old stepmother, Hung Man-yee, was 'discontented' with the first attack because Ho-yin 'did not suffer any injury' and therefore she had refused to pay.