‘God saw it as manslaughter,’ says 15-year-old girl’s killer, who denies murder

A Hong Kong man who admitted killing and sexually violating a 15-year-old girl before dumping her body in a bin more than three years ago told a court on Monday that God viewed his actions as manslaughter.

Lau Cheung-fai, 37, who is on trial for murder, also said God stopped him from following Satan’s “male, authoritative voice”, which instructed him to chop up Kwok Wai-ming’s body for disposal at the pier.

“She was innocent,” he told a High Court jury in a small voice. “I as well, because God told me I committed manslaughter.”

He further recalled – from the edge of his seat – that God told him there was CCTV that recorded what happened. “God viewed that as manslaughter. How come this CCTV is not played in court?” he asked.

But when Mr Justice Kevin Zervos asked if Lau was a practising Christian at the time, he replied that he only went to church once every six months. “I am a very crude person who sees money as the biggest thing,” he said. “The true me would be someone who would rob the HSBC.”

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Lau, who is unemployed, has denied murdering Kwok, who agreed to model for him in a private photo shoot at his Mong Kok flat on or about December 8, 2014.

The accused said on his first day of testimony that he was suffering from a mental illness when he struck Kwok with a bottle after she refused three times to change into a costume. He compared it to Peter’s denial of Jesus in the Bible.

“I became abnormal,” he said. “I did not dare to do things like indecently assaulting another or things like that.”

Lau said Kwok reminded him of former colleagues who bullied him at work. He told the court: “In the mental state I took her as my colleague. If she was seated it would be better. However, she was all along standing and I did not tilt my head to look at her face.

“I had a feeling that she was taller than me. It was important in that mental state.”

This came after Lau told the court that people taller than him had caused him trouble in the past.

“I was 1.66 metres tall, but recently the measurement read 1.55 metres. She was 1.7 metres tall,” he said.

“Why was that important?” his lawyer Michael Arthur asked.

“Because people who caused harm to me were usually taller than me,” Lau replied. But he agreed with his counsel that Kwok did not harm him at the time.

Asked to look at a photo of Kwok bound in tapes and ties, as she was found – in a striped bag placed inside the bin – Lau said: “It’s very shocking and I don’t want to look at it.”

During cross-examination, prosecutor Martyn Richmond said: “I suggest to you that your accounts of being persecuted in the workplace as a reason for your assault of this young lady are just simply not true.”

“I am telling the truth,” Lau said. “If I have said something that offended the name of God, I would go to hell, the everlasting fire … I meant to tell you everything. With one foot in heaven and one foot in hell, what else do you think I can hide from you?”

The trial continues.