Yoga ball murders: Hong Kong court gives ex-professor convicted of killing wife, daughter last chance to clear his name
- Top court raises concerns about how trial judge handled key piece of missing evidence in her directions to jury
- Khaw Kim Sun was earlier found guilty of murdering wife and daughter by placing leaking inflatable ball containing carbon monoxide in car boot
Three Court of Final Appeal justices on Tuesday allowed Khaw Kim Sun to advance his case before a full panel of five judges on the grounds that he might have been subjected to “grave and substantial injustice”.
Mr Justice Roberto Ribeiro said the top court was concerned about how the trial judge had handled a key piece of missing evidence in her directions to the jury.
Khaw was found to have killed his wife Wong Siew Fing, 47, and their second child Lily Khaw Li Ling, 16, by placing a leaking inflatable ball containing a lethal amount of carbon monoxide in the boot of their yellow Mini Cooper in May 2015.
The Malaysian anaesthesiologist and former Chinese University professor was said to have attempted to cover the plot by telling his colleagues he needed the gas for an experiment.
A nine-member High Court jury unanimously convicted him of two counts of murder after a 21-day trial in 2018 before Madam Justice Judianna Barnes.
Although nobody witnessed who placed the yoga ball in the car and when, the jury accepted prosecutors’ submission that Khaw was the only one who could have done that by a process of elimination.
