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SCMP Reporter

SERIAL rapist Lam Kwok-wai terrorised two neighbourhoods for 16 months, attacking a total of 10 lone women, killing three of them.

  When arrested, DNA tests on semen proved conclusively he had attacked nine of the women in Tuen Mun and Hunghom. All the murder victims had been strangled and then sexually assaulted.

  Last week Lam admitted a total of 18 charges: three killings, eight rapes and seven robberies, when he stole his victims' handbags and jewellery.

  As the full facts of Lam's case were revealed in the High Court yesterday, it emerged that Lam's attacks on women as they returned to their Tuen Mun homes late at night became increasingly violent, until he killed his sixth victim, which he claimed was an accident, and also his seventh and eighth victims.

  Prosecutor Arthur Luk revealed when reading the agreed facts that in each case Lam strangled them, usually in a lift, until they passed out so he could take them to a deserted area to rape or indecently assault them.

  The first victim was a 19-year-old virgin, who had been dropped off at Yau Oi estate in Tuen Mun by her boss after working late on April 24, 1992. She regained consciousness when the defendant was raping her.

  Lam continued to grip her neck and she again fainted. When she came round he had gone, along with her handbag and some jewellery. She was lying on newspaper on a staircase.

  After his arrest, Lam told police this was the first time he had raped a woman. He said he had been out of control and was filled with remorse afterwards.

  He said he had been drinking and initially intended to rob her but he became excited when he touched her and proceeded to commit rape.

  In the second incident, Lam attacked a 32-year-old waitress at 4.30 am on June 26 on Kin Sang estate, Tuen Mun, as she returned from work. He grabbed her from behind when she got out of a taxi and dragged her to the ground floor of a nearby block of flats and raped her.

  He ran off with her handbag but left a bundle of 11 keys at the scene. They were later found to fit storerooms where Lau's work tools were stored.

  The third victim was a 39-year-old woman on her way to catch a minibus on Castle Peak Road at 4 am on August 22, 1992. As usual she was grabbed by the neck from behind and dragged into undergrowth. She fainted and when she came found 50 minutes later found she was undressed.

  The fourth victim, 32, had to stay in hospital for four days with facial injuries, including blood in both ear canals, a perforated ear-drum and an eye haemorrhage.

   She was attacked after she got into a lift in Hing Ping House in Tuen Mun at about 11.30 am on December 3, when Lam entered just as the doors were closing.

   He grabbed her by the neck and she passed out, coming round to find herself lying half-naked on the staircase landing over three hours later. Her handbag was missing.

   Lam's next attack occurred just 25 days later on December 28, 1992 at 3 am when the victim returned to her home on Yau Oi Estate from a night out at a karaoke bar.

   Lam followed the 28-year-old woman into the lobby of Oi Tak House and the next thing she remembered was waking up in hospital the following day. She had been raped, and her handbag was stolen. She had multiple bruises on her limbs and neck and facial injuries and at first refused to speak.

   The prosecutor told the court that the next three victims were all killed: two in Tuen Mun and the third in Hunghom. A jury has already heard details of these offences.

  Lam further admitted robbing the first murder victim, a 51-year-old supermarket worker, and the second, a 22-year-old disc jockey, of their handbags and jewellery on February 24 and April 14 last year.

   Although Lam's semen was found in the second victim's body he said he could not remember raping her and he was not charged with this offence.

   The court heard that as police investigations hotted up, Lam moved out of Tuen Mun to his sister's home in To Kwa Wan. The last three offences all occurred nearby.

   The third murder victim, a 23-year-old public relations worker in a karaoke lounge, was also raped by Lam before she was killed, but not robbed. Lam said he tried to talk to the girl, because he felt 'empty' but when she slapped his face he lost his temper and grabbed her neck with both hands, lifted her off the ground and hit her head against the wall on May 24, last year at I-Feng Building, To Kwa Wan Road, Hunghom.

   The ninth victim, 31, also a public relations girl in a karaoke lounge, was raped and robbed as she prepared to enter her Hunghom home at 3 am on July 11 last year. Lam grabbed her by the neck and dragged her to a nearby lane, telling her not to speak or he would squeeze her to death. He took her watch and $200, raped and indecently assaulted her.

   The last victim was raped but arranged to meet him later, leading to his arrest.



Killer rapist trapped by DNA tests