Lam Kor-wan
| Lam Kor-wan | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | 林過雲 |
| Also known as | The Jars Murderer The Rainy Night Butcher The Rainy Night Killer The Hong Kong Butcher |
| Born | 1955 (age 56–57) Hong Kong |
| Killings | |
| Number of victims | 4 |
| Date apprehended | August 17th 1982 |
Lam Kor-wan was one of Hong Kong's two known serial killers. The other was Lam Kwok-wai.
Contents |
[edit] Crimes
Lam, who worked as a taxi driver, would pick up female passengers, strangle them with electrical wire, take them to his family home, and dismember them. His English moniker, "The Jars Murderer", was coined when the police revealed that he had hoarded sexual organs in tupperware containers. He was a keen photographer and frequently took pictures and video of his victims, filming himself performing an act of necrophilia with his fourth victim. The Chinese press nicknamed him "The Rainy Night killer" (Traditional Chinese 雨夜屠夫) because several of his attacks occurred during inclement weather.
Lam shared his bedroom with his brother, who was unaware of his activities; Lam worked the nightshift, so was able to dismember victims at home during the daytime without his immediate family finding out. The bodies were disposed of via his taxi in the New Territories and on Hong Kong Island, and all were eventually located.
[edit] Arrest
Lam was arrested by plain clothes officers on August 17, 1982. He had attempted to develop photographs of one of his dismembered victims at a Hong Kong Kodak shop. The shop manager in Mong Kok tipped off the police and they were waiting for him when he returned to pick up the photos. When confronted Lam claimed that the photographs belonged to a friend of his who worked on a ship who would meet him shortly; when the man did not appear the police accompanied Lam to his parents' first floor apartment on Kwei Chau Street [1] and performed a search. The police located an old ammunition box in the bedroom he shared with his brother; the box contained pornography and more photographs of body parts, video tapes and several tupperware containers containing women's sexual organs.
[edit] Trial
On April 8, 1983 at the end of a 21 day trial with a seven member all male jury, Lam was found guilty of four counts of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. On the 29th August 1984 Lam's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, as was the tradition before the abolition of the death penalty in 1993. He is currently serving his life sentence at Shek Pik Prison.
[edit] Victims
- Chan Fung-lan, female, age 22, body found in seven separate pieces in the Shing Mun River, New Territories.
- Chan Mong Kip, age 31, body found in a rice bag near Tai Hang Road, Hong Kong Island.
- Leung Sau-wan, female, age unknown, body found in a rice bag near Tai Hang Road, Hong Kong Island.
- Leung Wai-sum, female, age 17, body found in a rice bag near Tai Hang Road, Hong Kong Island.
[edit] Popular culture
Lam Kor-wan is portrayed by Hong Kong actor Simon Yam in the movie Doctor Lamb (1992).[2]
Lam was later portrayed by Lawrence Ng in a more fictional light in the 1994 film The Underground Banker in which Lam, now released from prison is a reformed Buddhist who is friendly and helpful to his neighbour and only returns to his psychotic killing state to help his neighbour take revenge on Triads who raped, murdered or maimed most of his family.[3][4]
The 1999 film Trust me U Die is sometimes known by the alternate title The New Dr. Lamb, but has no connection to Lam Kor-Wan or the previous film except that both star Simon Yam.[5]
[edit] References
- Hong Kong Murders (2001). Kate Whitehead. ISBN 0-19-591488-0
- The Jars Murderer (2010) Crime & Investigation Network (South East Asia)
- http://web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-countries-eng
- http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/wfbcjhon.txt
- http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/newspaper/view/23_01.02/37342.pdf
- http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/newspaper/view/23_01.02/37341.pdf
- http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/newspaper/view/23_01.02/37337.pdf
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ "Kwei Chow St, Kowloon, Hong Kong - Google Maps". Maps.google.com. 1970-01-01. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Kwei+Chow+St,+Kowloon,+Hong+Kong&sll=22.319981,114.237884&sspn=0.003072,0.004286&g=hong+kong,+china&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FVWIVAEds27OBg&split=0&ll=22.317197,114.19198&spn=0.006372,0.008572&t=h&z=17&iwloc=addr. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
- ^ Gou yeung yi sang (1992)
- ^ "Underground Banker". Hkfilm.net. http://www.hkfilm.net/undrgrnd.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
- ^ "The Underground Banker (1993)". Lovehkfilm.com. http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/underground_banker.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
- ^ "Trust Me U Die". Hkfilm.net. http://www.hkfilm.net/movrevs/trstdie.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
Category:Chinese serial killers Category:Chinese rapistsCategory:Chinese prisoners sentenced to deathCategory:Chinese people convicted of murder[citation needed]
