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HONG KONG – It was a grim story that took hold of Hong Kong: A beloved professor, trapped in a marriage that had gone sour, murdered his wife and stuffed her body in a suitcase.
On December 3, the court will hear ex-Hong Kong University professor Cheung Kie Chung’s mitigation for avoiding legal burial before handing down the life sentence, the only penalty for murdering his wife Tina Chan in August 2018. .
A seven-member jury of the Superior Court returned a guilty verdict on Nov. 26 by a 5-2 majority vote, following an 11-day trial and after nearly eight hours of deliberations.
Cheung, 56, had admitted to killing 53-year-old Madam Chan on August 17 two years ago at her residence in the university’s Wei Lun Hall, where he was headmaster.
He did not originally admit to murder, but pleaded guilty to the murder charges, which was rejected by the prosecution.
The former associate professor of mechanical engineering had strangled his wife with a cable while they were in bed at night.
That was after they allegedly argued, with the victim berating Cheung for not standing up for her during a disagreement with her daughter.
After writing, Cheung hid the body in a green suitcase and left it on the balcony.
But since the body would soon start to smell, he bought six wooden boards and created a “coffin” to hide the body. Later, he transferred him to his university office.
A crying Cheung told the court during the trial that he did not want to dump his wife’s body.
“He didn’t want to dump his body into the sea or to the garbage collection point.
“I feel exhausted pretending, trying to sound concerned about the disappearance of my wife Tina and pretending to be looking for Tina with my children and her aunt,” the defendant had shouted.
After the murder, Cheung filed a missing persons report, but police suspicions were aroused after they found CCTV footage of him carrying a large wooden box from the dormitory to his office in the university’s Haking Wong building. This was two days after he filed the report.
Officers raided his office and found the bloody and smelly suitcase in the box.
During the hearing, the couple’s two children, Nancy and Scot, ages 30 and 26, told the jury that the arguments between the couple were generally sparked by Madam Chan.
With that said, Cheung testified that the couple had never physically assaulted each other.
He also told the court that his wife constantly insulted him during their fights, some of which were in the presence of their children, and that he felt humiliated.
He said his wife would say things like “you are completely useless” and “we would be begging on the streets if we only trusted you.”
“She would scold me with obscene language very harshly. Even with my children present, she kept doing the same, I felt humiliated,” he said.
Arguments aside, money was also a thorn in their relationship.
Police found a credit note dated three months before the murder, which indicated that Cheung owed Madam Chan HK $ 6.7 million (S $ 1.15 million).
Cheung testified that his wife ordered it to be done, saying it was her request that half of his monthly salary of HK $ 100,000 belonged to him and that he should have given it to her every month. He had to pay her, in hindsight, a decade’s worth of her monthly claim via check.
He said he obeyed, that he didn’t want to be scolded again.
Defense attorney Graham Harris asked Judge Anthea Pang Po Kam for a postponement for mitigation, where a letter signed by hundreds of people will be presented in court.
The High Court judge said the jury should consider Cheung’s relationship with his wife, Cheung’s character and Madam Chan, the psychologist’s testimony and forensic evidence.
He noted that two psychiatrists testified that Cheung suffered from depression and that it was possible that he had lost self-control at the time.
Judge Pang added that the jury should not only consider whether Cheung could have his sentence reduced due to his mental illness, but also whether his mental state would make him vulnerable to provocation.
This request was made in light that the couple had a happy marriage for 30 years that began to deteriorate only when their children went to high school.
This is not the first high-profile murder involving a university professor at a Hong Kong university in recent years.
In 2015, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong killed his wife and daughter in a car by releasing carbon monoxide from a deflated yoga ball. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2018.
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