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The Murder Trial of Henry Chau

=Background= The murder of the elderly couple Glory Chau (Chau Wing-ki) and Moon Siu (Siu Yuet-yee) is presumed to have occurred on the 1st of March 2013. Their son, Henry Chau Hoi-leung, age 31, and his friend Angus Tse Chun-kei, age 37, were indicted for the murder of Chau’s parents on the 15th of March 2013. They both have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.

During Chau and Tse’s interviews with the police, they admitted that after the murder, they chopped up the parents’ dead bodies and cooked the remains with salt to make them look “like barbecue pork.” They kept part of the remains in lunch boxes, which they stored in the refrigerator. The gruesome details of the murder have sparked a huge amount of media coverage in Hong Kong. Chau’s defense has argued on the basis of diminished responsibility due to his mental instability. Meanwhile, the prosecution stresses the meticulous planning of Henry Chau with his multiple confessions.

=Timeline of Events= On March 12th, 2013, five days after filling the missing persons report, the two Chau brothers heard from the police that there were no (departure) records of their parents leaving Hong Kong. Thus on March 13th, 2013, Henry Chau Hoi-leung and his older brother, approached Apple Daily News, claiming that they had not heard from their parents since the 2nd of March. Chau stated that before their disappearance, his parents had informed him that they were planning to travel to mainland China. The brothers then created a Facebook page titled, ‘My missing dad and mom,' and asked their friends and the public for any information that could link to their parents’ whereabouts.

On March 14th, 2013, Henry Chau was invited to the police station for further questioning. Apple Daily News released articles about the Chau brothers’ struggle to find their missing parents. During the police interview, Chau texted his friends in a whatsapp group ‘HK-Tekken’ and confessed to the crime. Chau even described the details and reasons for the murder. On March 15th, 2013, a day after the interview, Chau and his friend, Angus Tse Chun-kei, were indicted for killing and dismembering Chau’s parents in Tse’s Tai Kok Tsui flat in the Long Beach Building. According to CHINANEWS, Chau invited his parents to visit Tse’s flat, telling them that it was a new flat he had just rented, and murdered his parents with Tse.

=The Deaths of Glory Chau and Moon Siu=

During further interrogation and investigation, Chau claimed that he and Tse coordinated the attack the moment Glory Chau and Moon Siu arrived in the living room because this was the time “when they felt ready.” Chau described his accomplice, Tse, as a “very powerful” man, who covered Moon Siu’s mouth behind while slashing her throat. Henry Chau admitted to stabbing his father in the back of the neck, but stated Tse had finished the job by slashing Glory Chau’s throat. The autopsy report further confirmed the cause of death. Chau returned to the Tai Kok Tsui crime scene four days after the incident, at the time when Tse already had all the body parts dismembered, salted, refrigerated, and demoisturized. Chau described his role in the double murder as ‘killing only,' while Tse dismembered the bodies. According to Chau, Tse initially attempted to disguise the remains as bricks by covering them with cement and sand. Then he came up with an easier plan to cook the remains of the bodies and disguise them as Cha shui, barbecued pork. Some of the remains were also covered with sand and thrown into the sea. During the investigation held on March 15th, 2013, the heads of the two victims were found inside the two separate refrigerators. In those refrigerators, lunch boxes containing microwaved human flesh, and three bags containing chopped limbs and other body parts were found. According to the video interviews shown to the jury, Chau said that his father was "an arrogant man who left (Chau) without a moment of peace" while his mother "always looked sadly when (Chau) did not contribute to the family." "I thought that if I could resolve the emotional connection with my parents, it would be a solution," he said. "If they died, I could be reborn."

=Trial Proceedings= The Court of First Instance began the first hearing on August 4, 2014, with both Chau and Tse as the defendants. The initial jury of seven was reduced to six during the first week of testimony. Soon after, another jury member asked for dismissal due to the psychological stress burdening him. On August 13th, 2014, High Court Deputy Judge Michael Stuart-Moore announced that the case would have to be restarted with a fresh jury of nine. The trial resumed in February of 2015. On March 9th, 2015, the defense lawyer, Nicholas Adams, called Psychiatrist Chung Ka-fai to the stand. Chung diagnosed Chau with bipolar disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Chung stated that Chau had experienced many suicidal thoughts after dropping out of college, being rejected by women, and being unemployed, giving a possible psychological trigger for the murder. The consultant of Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre, Lei Sheng Xiang, conducted an IQ test for Tse and Chau. Chau’s IQ was found to be 126, higher than average, while Tse’s IQ is 84. Xiang argued the possibility that Chau, having such a higher IQ than Tse, could have manipulated and framed Tse for the murder. On March 20th 2015, the verdict was passed. High Court deputy judge Michael Stuart-Moore found Chau guilty of double murder while finding his accomplice, Tse not guilty on both counts of murder. Chau will be sentenced soon.