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SCMP Reporter

Two men were jailed yesterday for 12 years for killing a mentally handicapped security guard after brutally beating him for two weeks over a HK$6,700 debt and abandoning his body in the street.
A post-mortem examination revealed that Wong Wai-hung,  27, had more than 100 wounds to his back when his body was found in Wah Shun Street  near the Hung Hom ferry pier on March 8, 2004.
It also concluded that Wong died of pneumonia and acute renal failure as a result of repeated physical abuse over two to three weeks.
Madam Justice  Clare-Marie Beeson  said the defendants, Lin Siu-lun,  35, and Lau Cheuk-wah,  28, were 'the instigators of the series of attacks' when she sentenced them on one charge each of manslaughter.
The court heard that eight other people were involved in killing Wong and dumping his body.
Evidence showed that Wong was subjected to systematic and severe physical torture. The defendants and  accomplices took him to various flats and beat him.
The prosecution told the court that the pair and their accomplices hit Wong with a mop handle, a folding chair, a knife handle and clothes hangers. The mop handle and the chair were broken in the beatings.
In sentencing, Madam Justice Beeson said Wong was unable to walk at one stage and he was denied  medical assistance even though his condition appeared to worsen.
The defendants took Wong to a barbeque gathering on March 7 and he collapsed in a toilet, the court heard. His body was then taken to the ferry pier.
Madam Justice Beeson noted that it was the defendants' original plan to dump Wong's body into the sea but they had left it in the street after they were spotted.
Saying that Wong had  not put up resistance during the attacks, Madam Justice Beeson said he had asked that the assaults stop and that he be allowed to leave, but the defendants had refused.
'It is the duty of the court to give protection for the weak and those who cannot protect themselves.'
Madam Justice Beeson said the injuries were not the only factor to consider in sentencing.
Lin and Lau were convicted of one charge of murder in December 2005, but won an appeal of their convictions and had a retrial this year.
They were tried separately  before Madam Justice Beeson in the Court of First Instance on one count of manslaughter and one of murder, for which they were acquitted.
Two others, Lau Ho-nam, 22, and Cheng Sze-lok, 22, were earlier sentenced to eight years for manslaughter. Five other people were sentenced to a variety of prison terms after being found guilty over their involvement in Wong's torture.



12 years' jail for torture and killing of mentally handicapped man