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HONG KONG, Nov 28 (SCMP): Cheung Kie-chung was a popular math genius known for being kind, and on his school days, he would help his classmates with homework, let others copy his answers, and tip your friends about exam topics.
However, he probably never calculated that he would one day end up behind bars, in the Stanley Maximum Security Prison in Hong Kong, following his arrest for a gruesome crime two years ago.
On Thursday night, the Hong Kong University professor was found guilty of murdering his wife.
A Superior Court jury of four men and three women delivered the verdict by a 5-2 majority vote Thursday after less than eight hours of deliberation, after 11 days of gripping testimony.
My first reaction was, ‘What bastard did the joke?
Chan Leung-choi, childhood friend
The respected professor of mechanical engineering is expected to be sentenced to life in prison for killing his wife after her decomposing body was found in a suitcase kept inside a sealed homemade wooden box placed in his campus office. on August 28, 2018.
By then, the police had been searching for Tina Chan Wai-man, 53, for eight days, as Cheung himself had reported her missing on August 20, reassuring the students while officers tracked her final movements and they searched the campus.
“They are here to investigate a missing person case involving my family,” Cheung explained in an email to other residents at Wei Lun Hall, a university dormitory where he served as a principal. “There is nothing to worry about.”
But investigators were suspicious when they saw him move a large wooden box and students noticed a foul odor on the floor where his office was located.
Cheung, 56, was arrested the next day.
Prosecutors would go on to describe him as a calculating man who murdered his wife in cold blood for money, while he argued that he had no intention of killing her, explaining that he was provoked in the heat of the moment during a fight, and had been suffering from depression that would harm substantially your mental responsibility for your actions.
The Hong Kong professor and his wife were ‘quite happy together’ before killing
His childhood friend Chan Leung-choi, who knew Cheung for more than 50 years and testified for him at trial, said the defense was in line with his friend’s observation over the years, as He had noticed that Cheung was losing weight and looking worn out. lately, as well as seemingly coping with a change in her marriage.
Still, Chan couldn’t shake the initial shock of hearing the news of the murder.
“My first reaction was, ‘What bastard did the joke?’” Recalls Chan. “I thought it was fake news. So [a television station] I reported it, realized it was really happening, and started to worry. “
The two men had attended primary and secondary school together, until Cheung left Hong Kong to obtain a BA from the University of Birmingham, then a PhD from the University of Wales in Great Britain, where he met and married Tina Chan within of a year of dating. .
Cheung later returned to Hong Kong with his wife and daughter Nancy in the early 1990s and began his teaching career: first at City Polytechnic, now City University, in 1991, then as an associate professor at HKU in 1992.
Chan Leung-choi said that Cheung was very popular in his school days as he had excelled in all subjects, especially math, and was very helpful to his classmates.
He also described Cheung as a calm, accommodating person, who didn’t know how to say no to others.
“Cheung Kie-chung is an incredibly nice guy, so no one could believe this incident,” Chan said of his circle. “We did not think it was possible. So we decided to stop speculating and start thinking about how to support it. “
Chan recalled consulting lawyers to find out where Cheung had been detained, only to learn that he was in an emotional state and had suicidal thoughts.
Cheung was placed on suicide watch at the request of prosecutors at his first hearing on August 30.
Hong Kong professor accused of murdering his wife ‘not a nice guy’
Chan observed that his friend’s condition showed improvement when he visited in September, as Cheung seemed calm and could make jokes.
She was also thinking of her two children, Nancy, 30, and her son Scot, 28, and they asked Chan to take care of them and have tea with them.
The Supreme Court heard that the couple had visited their father in prison, but avoided mentioning the incident.
Instead, they brought him clothes and books on engineering, biometrics, and ancient mystical energy.
Cheung’s classmates also visited him and wrote him letters, collecting messages from his chat group, to which Cheung replied, four pages at a time.
They also brought him a calculator and new math puzzles to keep his mind occupied, such as calculating frequencies on the 12-tone scale used in ancient Chinese music.
At the trial, Cheung’s attorney, Graham Harris SC, asked Chan: “Was the support you have given him in recent times because you think he deserved it?”
“Absolutely,” Chan replied.
Judge Anthea Pang Po-kam will hear the mitigation and sentence Cheung on December 3. South China morning post
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