His Excellency the Governor
of Hong Kong,
Flagstaff House,
Hong Kong.
Courts of Justice
Hong Kong.
shþu del man 11
20th February, 1979
Your Excellenoy,
Criminal Case 60 of 1978
Reg. v
(aged 27) 2nd accused (aged 27) 4th accused
it-
aged 27) 6th accused
In accordance with Article XXXIV of the Royal Instructions
I report the conviction today of these three young Chinese men upon a
charge of murder by a jury consisting of 6 Chinese men and 1 Chinese
woman. I passed sentence of death on each of the three accused.
The victim of the crime was a serving officer of the Royal
Hong Kong Police Force, Sgt. 7856 Lau Chak-mo. He was killed instantly
by a single shot in the head from a home-made .38" calibre revolver
at about 3.30 a.m. on Thursday, 2nd March, 1978 at premises on the
first floor of No. 86 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon.
These premises were normally used for a calico-printing business but
the proprietors of the business had recently allowed them to be used
- from midnight to 7 a.m. as a gambling casino for the playing of pai kau.
The deceased was gambling there with others when a party of five robbers
including these three accused burst in. The fourth and sixth accused
were armed with loaded home-made 38" calibre revolvers and a third man
known as Ah Hang, who has not so far been caught, held a loaded .22"
calibre Magnum palm gun. The second accused and the fifth robber Yiu
Wing-sang carried knives. The sixth accused and Ah Hang fired shots
into the air; A4 could not make his revolver fire though he tried
several times. Sgt. Lau retreated into a bathroom at the rear of the
A