Hong Kong man guilty of murdering girl, 15, in frenzied photo shoot sex attack
High Court jury convicts Lau Cheung-fai, 37, of brutal killing in which victim was tied up, beaten and sexually assaulted before her body was dumped
A Hong Kong man was on Tuesday convicted of the “heartless” murder of a 15-year-old girl who he had also raped despite believing her heart had stopped.
After deliberating for three hours, a High Court jury unanimously found Lau Cheung-fai, 37, guilty of murdering Kwok Wai-ming during what was supposed to be a private photo shoot that went wrong.
Lau turned the shoot into a savage combination of blows involving bondage and sexual assault at his Mong Kok flat on December 8, 2014.
‘God saw it as manslaughter’
“You have committed a heartless and horrific murder,” Mr Justice Kevin Zervos said, following a trial that graphically detailed how Lau sexually assaulted his victim after he wrapped adhesive tape around her and struck her on the head with a ketchup bottle.
Zervos described the repulsive attack as callous and grossly indecent, before conveying to the defendant that he would be jailed for life.
The court earlier heard that the two first contacted each other through social media application WeChat. That prompted the judge on Tuesday to ask prosecutors to contact social media operators to inquire about their policies on preventing and detecting crimes against the “young and vulnerable”.
Zervos is expected to incorporate the findings and his comments in his reasons for sentencing, when he will formally put Lau behind bars for life on Friday.
Kwok’s parents followed the trial with a “heavy heart”, the Post learned.
