TNAG-1213-FCO40-1516-Crimes-and-sentences-in-Hong-Kong--including-death-sentences-1982 — Page 21

3

BACKGROUND

9.

In his confession statement which was admitted in evidence

at the trial, the petitioner admitted killing the deceased. He had also admitted tying the deceased underneath the bunk so that her brother would not see her body upon his return to the hut

because the petitioner had intended to kill her brother as well.

10. The petitioner raised at trial the issue of provocation, upon which issue the jury was directed. The jury by their verdict clearly rejected the petitioner's... defence of provocation.

DEFENCE

11. The petitioner elected to give evidence at the trial and raised the defence of provocation. He stated that he was woken up by the noise of the deceased's radio on the morning of 28th January. He scolded her and asked her to turn down the volume of

the radio, but she refused to do so. To punish the deceased for her disrespectful behaviour, he pushed her onto the floor and

stuffed a piece of cloth into her mouth. As the deceased-

resisted, the petitioner first tied her hands and then her feet

together with a piece of nylon cord found near the bed. He then lifted her from the floor and put her on the bed.. In the course of his doing so, the deceased squeezed his testicles with her hands causing him great pain. He lost control of himself and strangled her in an outburst of anger. The petitioner in his oral testimony also denied any pre-meditation to kill the deceased's brother.

12. Both in the confession statement and in his evidence given at the trial, the petitioner admitted that he had a grudge against the deceased and her brother over the contribution towards the

purchase of the hut. He felt that they had been ungrateful-in delaying their repayments. He further felt that the deceased's brother had played an active part in the break up of his relation-

ship with his girl-friend.