Hello Kitty murder
The Hello Kitty Murder in Hong Kong refers to the case of a night club hostess who was kidnapped and tortured in an apartment in Tsim Sha Tsui in 1999. She eventually died over a month later, either by drug overdose or at the hands of the abductors. She was decapitated and her head was put in a Hello Kitty doll, hence the name of the case.[1]
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[edit] Case
A 23-year-old night club hostess by the name of Fan Man-yee (樊敏儀) was kidnapped by three men: 34-year-old Chan Man-lok (陳文樂), 27-year-old Leung Shing-cho (梁勝祖) and 21-year-old Leung Wai-lun (梁偉倫). They took her to an apartment at No. 31 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui,[2] where they imprisoned her. They beat and tortured her daily over a debt dispute.[1][3]
After a month of imprisonment and torture, she was killed, dismembered and her skull was stuffed into a giant Hello Kitty mermaid doll. They discarded most of the other body parts. Only the woman's skull, one tooth and some internal organs were recovered.[3]
The killing was exposed after the 14-year-old girlfriend of one of the three perpetrators reported having continual dreams of being haunted by Fan's ghost.[1][3]
The murder quickly became a sensational story in the media.
[edit] Court handling
The three men were convicted of manslaughter because the remains could not identify exactly how she died. They remain incarcerated.[when?]
Justice Peter Nguyen, who sentenced the trio, said, "Never in Hong Kong in recent years has a court heard of such cruelty, depravity, callousness, brutality, violence and viciousness." The trio was convicted of manslaughter and unlawful imprisonment by a jury of the Court of First Instance after a six-week trial. They revealed it to be one of the most gruesome cases in the territory.[3]
[edit] Cultural reference
The publicity around the case resulted in the production and release of films that told the story. Both Human Pork Chop (烹屍之喪盡天良) and There Is a Secret in My Soup (人頭豆腐湯) were released in 2001.
An episode of the television series Bones, "The Girl in the Mask", involves finding the decapitated head of a young Japanese woman from an American escort service in a mask.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c People.com.cn. "People.com.cn." 妙齡女郎慘遭殘酷碎尸 三名疑犯陸續落網. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
- ^ Tiffany Lam, "Haunted Hong Kong: Read if you dare", CNN GO, 25 October, 2011
- ^ a b c d Asian Economic News. "Asian Economic News, 11 December 2000 ." Trio sentenced to life in jail for gruesome killing in H.K. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
[edit] External links
- Trio sentenced to life in jail for gruesome killing in H.K - Asian Economic News, 11 December 2000
- Human Pork Chop at the Internet Movie Database
- There is a Secret in my Soup at the Internet Movie Database
