Murder of Glory Chau and Moon Siu

Glory Chau Wing-ki (周榮基, 65) and Moon Siu Yuet-yee (蕭月兒, 63) were a couple murdered in Hong Kong, presumably on 1 March 2013. Their youngest son, Henry Chau Hoi-leung (周凱亮, 28 at the time of the murder), and his friend Angus Tse Chun-kei (謝臻麒, 35 at the time of the murder), were indicted for the murder, which they initially denied being involved in.[1] During Chau and Tse's interviews with the police, they admitted that after the murder, they chopped up the parents' dead bodies and cooked the remains with salt to make them look "like barbecue pork."[2] They kept part of the remains in lunch boxes, which they stored in the refrigerator. The gruesome details of the murder sparked a huge amount of media coverage in Hong Kong.

Moon Siu Yuet-yee, Glory Chau Wing-ki
DisappearedHong Kong
Diedpresumably on 1 March 2013, Glory Chau (aged 65), Moon Siu Yuet-yee (aged 63)
Cause of deathMurder
Body discoveredHong Kong, 15 March 2013 at Angus Tse Chun-kei's flat
NationalityChinese
Children2

On 20 March 2015, High Court deputy judge Michael Stuart-Moore found Chau guilty of double murder while finding his accomplice Tse not guilty on both counts of murder.[3]

Timeline of events

On 12 March 2013, five days after filing a missing persons report, the two Chau brothers heard from the police that there were no (departure) records of their parents leaving Hong Kong. Thus on 13 March 2013, Henry Chau Hoi-leung and his older brother approached Apple Daily, claiming that they had not heard from their parents since 2 March. Chau stated that before their disappearance, his parents had informed him that they were planning to travel to mainland China. The brothers then created a Facebook page titled, "My missing dad and mom", and asked their friends and the public for any information that could link to their parents' whereabouts.

On 14 March 2013, Henry Chau was invited to the police station for further questioning. Apple Daily released articles about the Chau brothers' struggle to find their missing parents. During the police interview, Chau texted his friends in a WhatsApp group "HK-Tekken" and confessed to the crime. Chau even described the details and reasons for the murder.

On 15 March 2013, a day after the interview, Chau and his friend, Angus Tse Chun-kei, were indicted for killing and dismembering Chau's parents in Tse's Tai Kok Tsui flat in the Long Beach Building. According to reports, Chau invited his parents to visit Tse's flat, telling them that it was a new flat he had just rented, and murdered his parents with Tse.[4]

Deaths of Glory Chau and Moon Siu

During further interrogation and investigation, Chau claimed that he and Tse coordinated the attack the moment Glory Chau and Moon Siu arrived in the living room because this was the time "when they felt ready." Chau described his accomplice Tse as a "very powerful" man who covered Moon Siu's mouth from behind while slashing her throat. Henry Chau admitted to stabbing his father in the back of the neck, but stated Tse had finished the job by slashing Glory Chau's throat. The autopsy report further confirmed the cause of death.[5][6]

Chau returned to the Tai Kok Tsui crime scene four days after the incident, at the time when Tse already had all the body parts dismembered, salted, refrigerated, and demoisturized.[7] Chau described his role in the double murder as 'killing only', while Tse dismembered the bodies.

According to Chau, Tse initially attempted to disguise the remains as bricks by covering them with cement and sand. Then he came up with an easier plan to cook the remains of the bodies and disguise them as char siu, barbecued pork. Some of the remains were also covered with sand and thrown into the sea.[6][8] During the investigation held on 15 March 2013, the heads of the two victims were found inside the two separate refrigerators. In those refrigerators, lunch boxes containing microwaved human flesh, and three bags containing chopped limbs and other body parts were found. According to the video interviews shown to the jury, Chau said that his father was "an arrogant man who left [Chau] without a moment of peace" while his mother "always looked sadly when [Chau] did not contribute to the family." "I thought that if I could resolve the emotional connection with my parents, it would be a solution," he said. "If they died, I could be reborn."[6] He blamed his parents for his failures in life, such as his father distracting his studies by watching television at a high volume, and his mother forcing him to practice the piano and humiliating him in front of a girl.[9]

Trial proceedings

The Court of First Instance began the first hearing on 4 August 2014, with both Chau and Tse as the defendants. The initial jury of seven was reduced to six during the first week of testimony. Soon after, another jury member asked for dismissal due to the psychological stress burdening him. On 13 August 2014, High Court Deputy Judge Michael Stuart-Moore announced that the case would have to be restarted with a fresh jury of nine.[10]

The trial resumed in February 2015. Throughout the course of the trial, Chau's defense argued on the basis of diminished responsibility due to his mental instability, while the prosecution stressed the meticulous planning of Henry Chau and his multiple confessions.

On 9 March 2015, the defense lawyer, Nicholas Adams, called psychiatrist Chung Ka-fai to the stand. Chung diagnosed Chau with bipolar disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Chung stated that Chau had experienced many suicidal thoughts after dropping out of college, being rejected by women, and being unemployed, giving a possible psychological trigger for the murder.[11]

The consultant of Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre, Lui Sing-Heung, conducted an IQ test for Tse and Chau. Chau's IQ was found to be 126, higher than average, while Tse's IQ is 84. Lui argued the possibility that Chau, having such a higher IQ than Tse, could have manipulated and framed Tse for the murder.[12] On 20 March 2015, the verdict was passed. High Court deputy judge Michael Stuart-Moore found Chau guilty of double murder while finding his accomplice Tse not guilty on both counts of murder.[13] Chau was sentenced to life imprisonment while Tse was sentenced to one year for preventing the lawful burial of the bodies. As Tse had already been detained for two years on remand, he was released immediately.[9]

The case was adapted into an episode of the Chinese-language miniseries Stained (心冤; debuted 2017) produced by Fox Networks Group Asia and directed by Patrick Kong.[14] The case was also adapted in the TVB 2018 Anniversary drama OMG, Your Honour (是咁的，法官閣下) as the final case.[15]

See also

References
  1. "【逆子弒父母】 退休夫婦慘遭逆子謀財害命 - 即時新聞 - 要聞 - 20130315". Apple Daily 蘋果日報. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  2. "Son chopped up his parents and put heads in the fridge, Hong Kong court hears". South China Morning Post. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  3. thearcoiriscb (29 March 2017). "Top 5 Most Popular Murders/Killings in Hong Kong". The Arcoiris. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  4. "香港逆子弒雙親碎屍案開審 子割喉殺父友殺其母". xinhuanet.com. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  5. "周凱亮：殺人計劃構思半年". now.com. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  6. "Henry Chau 'decided to murder his parents for putting pressure on him'". South China Morning Post. 11 August 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "弒雙親碎屍案警指次被告稱冇殺人". Yahoo 新聞香港. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  9. Chu, Julie (15 March 2015). "Son who chopped up parents and kept heads in the fridge jailed for life in Hong Kong". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  10. "Sordid details of murder case too much for jury". chinadailyasia.com. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 April 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. "周凱亮IQ126: 次被告僅84 專家：智商差距大難做朋友：周或卸責同黨 - 蘋果日報 - 要聞港聞 - 20150312". Apple Daily 蘋果日報. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  13. "Henry Chau: Hong Kong man who killed his parents found guilty". NewsComAu. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  14. 許育民 (14 December 2017). "【心冤】重現大角咀血腥肢解父母案 吳肇軒兇殘演繹冷血兒子". 香港01 (in Chinese). Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  15. 鄺, 鈺瑩. "【是咁的，法官閣下】肢解父母案真有其事 犯案手法極凶殘". Hong Kong 01. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
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