THE Tuen Mun rapist and murderer, who strangled his victims in a 16-month reign of terror, 'deeply apologised' to his victims and their relatives yesterday as a further life sentence was passed on him for eight rapes.
Trial judge Mr Justice Bewley said Lam Kwok-wai's case was one of the worst to come before the courts.
Lam admitted attacking 10 women as each was returning home alone, late at night. He killed three of the women, raped eight and robbed seven.
A jury found Lam was 'bad, not mad' on Tuesday, when they rejected his plea of not guilty to murder by reason of diminished responsibility. He was then sentenced to the mandatory life sentence for murder but the judge adjourned sentencing on the rape and robbery charges until yesterday.
'The nature of the offences and your history indicates you are an unstable character and likely to commit offences in future. That poses an unacceptable threat to the women in Hong Kong,' said the judge yesterday. 'In my judgment the only proper sentence in such circumstances is one of life imprisonment.' He also imposed a seven-year jail term on each of the seven robbery counts, to run concurrently. Lam had stolen handbags and jewellery from his victims.
Earlier, the court heard that Lam had instructed his lawyer to say: 'He feels very sorry for what he has done and through me he wishes to tender his deepest apology to all the victims, and their family members and their relatives for what he has done.' Lam stood expressionless in the dock during yesterday's brief hearing. He has shown no emotion throughout the whole five-day case, even when the gruesome details of his killings and attacks were described.