HONG KONG STANDARD 16 MAY 1570
Queen saves murderer from the
gallows and gives him life term
A
KILLER REPRIEVED
THE QUEEN yesterday reprieved condemned killer Tsoi Kwok-cheong and stirred up a new storm of controversy throughout Hongkong.
The 29-year-old murderer earlier denied a reprieve by the Governor will spend the rest of
his life in prison.
News that his death sentence **25 commuted came in a terse government statement.
It said the Queen had granted Tsoi's plea for mercy on the recommenda- tion of Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home.
Government sources told the Hongkong Standard last night that senior officials here were "quite upset" by the reprieve.
It would make attempts to control Hongkong's crime wave more difficult, they predicted.
Tsoi was sentenced to hang in the Supreme Court last November for killing auxiliary police recruit Ng Sungpor during a robbery near Yuenlong.
His appeal to the Governor was rejected
by' C.Y. Wong
SUPPORT
The Governor's decision was comed by many people but ed a storm of caposition from lawyers and churchmen who dubbed it a publicity gimmick for the anti-crime campaign and raised a string of other objections.
A government source told the Standard that the reprieve was inevitable in view of last week's parliamentary debate in London over a bill to abolish hanging in Northern Ireland.
An overwhelming majority of Members of Parliament wers opposed to capital punishment despite wide public support for it in Britain.
In April the first time ar
appeal against the death sentence had been turned down in seven years.
following the Governor's surprise decision to refuse a reprave
a letter pleading for Tsoi's life to be spared was sent to Sir Alec by
71 leading Hongkong residents, headed by Anglican Bishop Gilbert Baker and Roman Catholic Bishop Francis Hsu.
It was also signed by every Queen's Counsel in Hongkong. Last night Mr
Ng Leung-shing, 48, father of the dead man, was shocked when the Standard told him Tsoi would not go to the gallows.
"To hell with the law in Hongkong," he said.
"I want the world to know that I am sick of the law. I will let the people judge whether the reprieve for my son's murderer is right or not."
Civic and community leaders were quick to do just that.
One Queen's Counsel said simply: "God save the Queen.
Mr M.II. Jackson-Lipkin,
a member of the Hongkong Bar Association's special committee on crime and punishment, was relieved. But he added: "Those Protesting gainst the Gyemor's Lecision were not protesting against hanging and at saying Tsoi deserve to ure. They were athomed at the a1 timing of the
*
are
ming of the
Urban Councillor Edmund Chow who in secretary general of the Civic Association said capital punishment, in general, must be maintained. But he said: "There may be some particular cases that merit a commutation."
Sham Lo-yeung.
• Mr chairman of Wongtaisin Kaifong Association, said the Queen's decision was "hasty”. He added: "Maybe it is because of the gap between Her Majesty and public
in opinion Hongkong." He was sure more than 95
cent of the per
the population supported Governor's decision to reject the appeal.
Mr Yan Chi-kit, chairman
• of the Taihang Kaifong Association said the reprieve would put the Governor in an embarrassing position.
• Mr Wong Shui-cheuk who led a million-signature move to maintain the death penalty d. "The Queen is certainly doing a good thing. We have moting against Traume is only