Hello Kitty murder

No. 31 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, where the victim was held before her murder.

The Hello Kitty Murder was a 1999 case in which a nightclub hostess was kidnapped and tortured in an apartment in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. She died over a month later, either by drug overdose or at the hands of the abductors. She was decapitated and her head was crammed into a Hello Kitty doll, hence the name of the case.[1]

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 of HK$20,000 (US$2,560).[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 missing hostess's remains were found only after a teenage girl, the girlfriend of one of the men, led police to the scene.[4][5]

The murder quickly became a sensational story in the media.

Court case

The three men were convicted of manslaughter because the jury ruled the remains were not sufficient to show whether Fan was murdered or died in another way, such as a drug overdose.[4] The teenage girlfriend of one of the men testified at the trial in exchange for immunity.[4]

Justice Peter Nguyen, who sentenced the trio to life in prison, stated, "Never in Hong Kong in recent years has a court heard of such cruelty, depravity, callousness, brutality, violence and viciousness." The trio were convicted of manslaughter by a jury after a six-week trial.[4]

Psychiatric reports described the three, members of a secret triad gang society, as "remorseless". The jury could not rule that the men intended to kill 23-year-old Fan Man-yee, which would have meant a mandatory life sentence, but it was determined she died as a result of their abuse. There will be no review for parole for 20 years.[6]

Aftermath

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 were released in 2001.

The apartment building in which the crime took place was demolished in September 2012 and has been rebuilt as a hotel in 2016.

References

  1. 1 2 " 妙齡女郎慘遭殘酷碎尸 三名疑犯陸續落網". People's Daily. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  2. ↑ Tiffany Lam, "Haunted Hong Kong: Read if you dare", CNN GO, 25 October 2011
  3. 1 2 "Trio sentenced to life in jail for gruesome killing in H.K." Asian Economic News, 11 December 2000. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Chandler, Clay (9 December 2000). "'Hello Kitty' Murder Case Horrifies Hong Kong". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  5. ↑ Yano, Christina (2013). Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty's Trek across the Pacific. Durham: Duke University Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-8223-5363-8.
  6. ↑ "Life for 'Hello Kitty' Killers". ABC News. Retrieved 1 October 2016.

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