COURT: The defendant faces 1 count of theft and 1 count of murder. He pleads guilty to the count of theft but pleads not guilty to the count of murder. He is convicted of the count of murder by a jury unanimously after trial.
Facts Admitted and Evidence of Trial
On 28 December 2019, the defendant went hiking with his girlfriend and they later drank at a place near Hi Lee Path, Yuen Long, finishing a bottle of vodka. At about 9 pm the defendant went to the 7-Eleven shop at 17J Kik Yeung Road, Yuen Long, and stole 2 cans of beer. He was chased by staff members of the shop including Mr Tang Chung-keung, the deceased in this case.
The defendant escaped and walked from On Ning Road to Hi Lee Path. He suddenly turned back and walked and then ran in the direction of On Ning Road. He screamed foul language.
As seen on the CCTV clip, Mr Tang ran along On Ning Road away from the defendant. He tripped himself and fell down. When he was getting up, the defendant kicked at him and he fell flat on the ground. The defendant continued to kick him 5 to 6 times. The defendant then went to join his girlfriend and took her home.
Mr Tang suffered serious injury in his head and died in hospital on 30 December 2019 and the cause of death was head injury.
The defendant denied he was involved in the case in the first two video-recorded interviews, but admitted in the third video-recorded interview to be the one who stole the 2 cans of beer and kicked or stamped on Mr Tang. He denied to have any intention to kill or cause really serious bodily injury to Mr Tang. He maintained it was an accident. The defendant also took part in a re-enactment of the incident and then a fourth video-recorded interview.
The defendant is a Hong Kong citizen of Pakistani race. He was aged 27 at the time of the offences. He says in court that on the day in question after he had gone hiking with his girlfriend in the morning, they started drinking and finished a bottle of vodka of 1 litre. He was drunk.
His girlfriend wanted more alcohol and as he had no money, he went to the 7-Eleven shop in question and stole 2 cans of beer. When he left the shop, someone put his hand on his shoulder so he started to run. Later when he walked past a man, the man said dirty words to him and being racist at him. The man was Mr Tang.
Mr Tang also said he would beat the defendant to death. He raised his right hand with fingers clenched. The defendant used a hand to push him at the shoulder. He fell down and kept swearing at the defendant about his mother. The defendant was not used to that. Mr Tang said he was going to apprehend the defendant and the defendant became a bit scared. He lost control and stepped on Mr Tang twice.
He presumed from his experience that that would only cause a few bumps on the head and a headache, nothing serious. He had no intention to cause injury or to harm Mr Tang. The defendant said that he was very drunk at that time.
After that, he went to his girlfriend and took her home at Nai Wai.
After he was taken to the police station, he was slapped by a CID officer. He was scared so he denied any involvement in the case.
Later another CID officer said a lesser charge would be preferred if he told the truth. The defendant therefore, did so. Another reason for him to do so and to take part in the video re-enactment was because he became scared when he came to know that the man had died.
Criminal Records
The defendant has a conviction of assault occasioning actual bodily harm for which he was sentenced to 3 weeks imprisonment on 5 November 2020.
Mitigation
There is no mitigation.
Sentence
According to the law, the sentence of murder is a mandatory one of life imprisonment. The court therefore sentences the defendant to life imprisonment for the charge of murder.
The charge of theft involves stealing 2 cans of beer from a 7-Eleven shop. For this kind of shop theft offence, the sentence for a first offender is normally one of a fine. As the defendant is already facing life imprisonment, imposing a fine on him does not serve any useful purpose. The court therefore orders an absolute discharge for the charge of theft.
The defendant is to go to prison for life.