:
SOUTH
MORNING POST
CHINA
Killes living
!
APRIL 11TH '73
in shadow of
the gallows
By K. C. TSANG
A 29 year old killer was in the shadow of the gallows at Stanley Prison last night and the father of the boy that died said: "I would like to hang him myself."
There is only one hope for the condemned murderer, Tsoi Kwok-cheong, legal experts said last night after the Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose, decided not to grant a reprieve on his death
sentence.
That is an appeal to the Privy Council, a course which would allow him only to appeal against a point of law not against the sentence of death.
1 soi has already appealed to the Full Court of Hongkong without success.
Today. Tsoi is closer to the noose than any killer has been since the last sentence of death was carried out on November 16. 1966, when a murderer named Wong Kai kei, aged 25, dropped through the trap door of the Stanley gallows.
Tsoi stabbed a 20-year old auxiliary. Police recruit. Ng Sung-por. to death in January 1972 after a gang of three masked hoodlums burst into the Ng but in Yuen Long and robbed the family who were playing mahjong.
Tsoi was found guilty of the killing in November last year. His appeal against the sentence, was dismissed.
Unless Tsoi appeals to the Privy Council, he will probably face the hangman within three weeks, reliable sources said last night.
The decision not to save Tsoi from the noose was last night hailed by many people who believe sentences for crimes of violence have not acted as deterrents.
The Chairman of the Joint. "Kailong Resvären Coûnch, wit Yan Chi-kit, said: "I fully support the Governor's action. This is a warning to all future offenders. It shows the determined attitude of the Government Towards the
present situation in which there 15 much crime, especially crimes of violence.”
In a small stone and wood hut in the village of Hung Mo Kiu, Au Tau, near Yuen Long. the father of the murdered youth spoke with obvious grief last night as he told how his son died.
"There was a mahjong game being played downstairs at about 3 am and suddenly three masked men armed with knives and files ran into our home and demanded money from the people." Mr Ng Leung shing. 48, recalled.
"My son and I were sleeping upstairs, and when I woke up. my son had already heard the noise from the robbery and had climbed down the ladder.
"I was climbing down after him. But I was just in time to see a man stab my son in the chest with a long triangular file.
"I tried to catch the man, and I was stabbed slightly on the arm. The killers got away that night and I chased them. but could not catch them.
"My wife also saw our son die. She saw him stabbed and bleeding. She has still not got over the shock of seeing Sung- por killed."
Mr Ng said the Governor had made a correct decision in refusing to spare the life of the killer.
"He does not deserve to live," Mr Ng said, "If the Government can't find a hangman, I will do the job myself. If other killers had been hanged earlier, perhaps my son would not have died.”
In addition to Tsoi Kwok - cheong, nine other men are in the death row in Stanley Prison.
They are, with the dates of their death sentences:
Chan Kam wah. April 4, 1972: Kwan Yip-chuen, January 1, 1973; Poon Wan, 9 yun. January 12, 1973 Leung Ping fat, January 22. 1973: Wong Yu hung. February 14, 1973: Yeung Pui yen, February 20, 1973; Chan Hon-tong. February 26, 1973; and Mohabbat Hussain, April 9. 1973.
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