Summary justice? How 3 gruesome murders got the attacker the death penalty in Hong Kong in 1958
- Two brothers and their cousin were chopped while sleeping in the street, with their assailant caught within days and hung for the crime later in the year
“Three Chinese youths sleeping in the open outside a grocery in Bayview District were hacked to death in their beds early yesterday morning by an unknown assailant or assailants,” reported the South China Morning Post on July 24, 1958.
“The three were attacked outside the Yu Kee Grocery in Lin Fa Kung Street West about 5.30am yesterday, and all received fatal chopper wounds. When found, the victims were lying in a large pool of blood, two of them almost decapitated.
“As soon as neighbours reported their discovery, a large party of the police, led by Mr R.H. Woodhead, Deputy Director of Criminal Investigation, went to the scene.
“A police dog was also used to search for suspects and other material evidence in connection with the murders. Later, a rusty axe and some carpenter’s implements were picked up by the police near the scene.
“Two of the youths, Pang Ying-choi, 20, and Pang Hung-choi, 18, were brothers, and sons of the owner of the grocery, Mrs Pang Ng-ku, 62. They used to help their mother to run the store. The younger son was a student at a free school in the neighbourhood. The third victim was Leung Chung, 18 […] who was a nephew of Mrs Pang. He was reported to have come here recently from Canton and was awaiting a visa to enter America to join his father.”
On July 27, the Post reported that a “carpenter accused of the murder of three people was remanded for three days in police custody […] Divisional Detective Inspector Walter Boxall told the court that the accused was located in Kowloon at about 7am yesterday.”
