Friends of dead Hong Kong war gamer arrested after body found
Kwok Wai-nok was found with cuts and stab wounds to his neck and head, following a nighttime trip up Black Hill in Lam Tin with three friends who have been arrested
The body of 20-year-old Kwok Wai-nok was found on a hillside near Lam Tin on Monday.A young man who was reported missing after a nighttime trek with his friends was found dead. Police said on Monday he was lured to the site, pushed down a slope and killed.
The police arrested three men, aged 21-27, who went up Black Hill in Lam Tin with the victim late Saturday night.
Initial investigations suggest that a money dispute over the purchase of war games equipment triggered the “premeditated attack” in the early hours of Sunday, a source said.
The body of Bosco Kwok Wai-nok, 20, was found 20 to 30 metres below Wilson Trail near the top of Black Hill at about 8.30am on Monday, hours after his three friends were arrested.
Chief Inspector Ng Chung-wai of the Kowloon East regional crime unit said the victim suffered multiple stab and cut wounds to his neck, face and head.
“Initial examination showed he had been dead for more than 24 hours,” he said. Police were still combing the hillside on Monday for the weapon used in the attack.
Kwok, a trainee air-conditioning technician, was believed to have been invited by the three suspects to Black Hill, also known as Ng Kwai Shan, to scout for and take photos of a suitable site for war games.
The trio, who met the victim through their common hobby about a year ago, met up with Kwok and his friend at the Haven of Hope Hospital in Tseung Kwan O shortly after midnight on Sunday, the source said. The three suspects made an excuse to separate Kwok and his friend, and went up the hill with the victim alone.
That friend was later told by the three men that Kwok had left by himself after receiving a call at about 3.30am on Sunday, the source said.
At about 1pm on Sunday, Kwok’s family filed a missing person’s report, saying he still had not returned home. Police, the Fire Services Department and Civil Aid Service launched an overnight search with the help of a Government Flying Service helicopter before the body was found on Monday.
The three were arrested after investigations indicated they had made up the story about Kwok leaving the hillside by himself. Police then reclassified the case as murder.
The trio were still being held for questioning on Monday night. Officers from the Kowloon East regional crime unit were handling the case.
Police figures show there were eight reports of homicide in the first four months of this year, a 43 per cent drop compared with 14 cases in the same period last year.