30-Year-Old Killed His Parents And Cooked Their Bodies Before Packing Them Into Lunchboxes
An elderly couple were reportedly killed by their son, before being dismembered, cooked and salted. Chau Hoi-leung, their 30-year-old son and his 36-year-old friend, Tse Chun-kei are currently under trial at High Court in Hong Kong.
By Sadho Ram — 07 Aug 2014, 12:50 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
An elderly couple allegedly murdered by their son and his friend were dismembered, salted and cooked, according to a South China Morning Post (SCMP) report published on 5 August 2014
The severed heads of 65-year-old Chau Wing-ki and his wife Siu Yuet-yee, 62, were found in March last year (2013), stuffed into two refrigerators in a bloodstained apartment, days after they were reported missing.
The other remains were found in a rubbish bin, cooked and packed into lunchboxes with rice, in an attempt by the duo to hide the crime after they ran out of space in the refrigerators.
According to the report, the son Henry Chau Hoi-leung and his friend Tse Chun-kei had planned the murders for more than three months
Prosecutor Michael Arthur said that Henry Chau Hoi-leung, 30, and his friend Tse Chun-kei, 36, had planned the murders for more than three months, buying knives, refrigerators, microwave ovens and a rice cooker.
"Their crime was greatly premeditated. Their planning was extensive. Their preparation gathered pace in January and February. And on March 1, 2013 they carried out the killings as they had planned," Arthur said.
Chau told police after his arrest that he and Tse killed Chau Wing-ki and his wife Siu Yuet-yee on March 1 2013 because "they felt ready"
After his arrest, Henry Chau told police that he and Tse killed his parents, but that it was Tse who dismembered the bodies. He said he chose to kill his parents because his emotional connection with them had broken down.
sky.com
But during their trial, Chau and Tse both denied two counts of murder in court on 4 August 2014
Chau claimed Tse told him the fridges were not big enough and that Tse then salted some of the remains and kept them in boxes. Another method he alleged Tse had used was to cook the remains of the bodies. He claimed Tse looked at it as "chopping barbecued pork", before packing the remains in rice boxes along with some rice and disposing of them in a rubbish bin.
But Tse, in a video interview with police, denied playing any part in the killings. He said Henry Chau had showed him a box containing a human hand and other body parts before warning him that it would be hard for Tse to convince people that he had not helped dismember the bodies.
shanghaiist.comChau initially told police that his parents had gone to mainland China "to have fun", but later admitted to the murder on WhatsApp
The court heard that Henry Chau told police on March 14 last year that his parents were missing after claiming that they had gone to the mainland "to have fun".
But at the same time, Henry Chau was sending WhatsApp messages from inside the police station to a friend in which he confessed that he had killed his parents and needed more time to say a final goodbye to his friends before serving life in prison, the prosecution said.
The police arrested Henry Chau and Tse on March 15. They conducted a search of the flat at 38 Fuk Chak Street in Tai Kok Tsui and found the dismembered bodies, as well as notes and receipts that suggested the pair had started planning the killings in November 2012.
In the WhatsApp messages to his friends, Chau also called himself a "psychopath". He said:
“I cannot empathise with people’s pain because of my experience from childhood and adolescence”.
Both men, however, admitted to preventing the couple's lawful burial
Before the trial began, Deputy Judge Michael Stuart-Moore told the jury that Henry Chau and Tse had admitted two counts of preventing the lawful burial of the couple.
Henry Chau also pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility due to his abnormality of mind. But the prosecution did not accept the pleas.
One of the suspects Henry Chau is escorted by police officers to a flat at Kok Cheung Street in Tai Kok Tsui in March, 2013.
Image via scmp.com