Hello Kitty murder

The Hello Kitty murder was a 1999 case in which a nightclub hostess was abducted and tortured in an apartment in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, after stealing a wallet. On 17 March, Fan Man-yee (樊敏儀) was kidnapped and tortured by three men before dying a month later. She was then decapitated and her skull was placed inside of a Hello Kitty doll.

No. 31 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, where the murder took place.

Murder

A 23-year-old night club hostess by the name of Fan Man-yee (樊敏儀) was kidnapped by three men and one girl: 34-year-old Chan Man-lok (陳文樂), 27-year-old Leung Shing-cho (梁勝祖), 21-year-old Leung Wai-lun (梁偉倫), and Chan Man-lok's 13-year-old grooming victim after stealing a wallet from one of them. They took her to an apartment at No. 31 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui,[1] where they imprisoned her for a month.

During her imprisonment, Fan was subjected to torture. According to Chan Man-lok's girlfriend, they beat her with metal bars, kitchen utensils, and furniture pieces, sometimes while hanging her and using her as a punching bag. They rubbed spices into her wounds, burned her with candle wax and hot plastic (specifically on her legs and feet so she couldn't walk), raped her, forced her to consume human feces and urine, and forced her to smile and say she enjoyed the beatings; if she refused, they subjected her to even harsher torture. All over a debt dispute of HK$20,000 (US$2,560).[2][3]

After a month of imprisonment and torture, Fan succumbed to her wounds and passed away while her captors were out. Upon returning home, they discovered her deceased body in the bathroom they had locked her in. Her body was then dismembered and her captors placed her skull inside of a Hello Kitty mermaid doll and discarded the rest of her remains. Only her skull, one tooth, and some internal organs were recovered.[3]

Fan's remains were found only after Chan's girlfriend led police to the scene.[4][5]

Trial

After a six-week and four days trial, the three men were convicted of manslaughter, as the jury ruled the remains were not sufficient to show whether Fan was murdered or died in another way, such as a drug overdose.[4] The jury could not rule that the men intended to kill 23-year-old Fan Man-yee, which would have meant a mandatory life sentence, but it was determined she died as a result of their abuse.[6] The underage girlfriend of one of the men testified at the trial in exchange for immunity.[4]

Justice Peter Nguyen, who sentenced the trio to life in prison, stated, "Never in Hong Kong in recent years has a court heard of such cruelty, depravity, callousness, brutality, violence, and viciousness."[4] Psychiatric reports described the three, members of a secret triad society, as "remorseless". There would be no review for parole for 20 years, i.e. until 2020.[6]

Aftermath

The apartment building, in which the crime took place, was demolished in September 2012 and has been rebuilt as a hotel in 2016.

The publicity around the case resulted in the production and release of films that told the story. Both Human Pork Chop (烹屍之喪盡天良) and There is a Secret in my Soup were released in 2001.[7]

Bones's season four episode titled "The Girl in the Mask" is based on this case.

See also

References
  1. Lam, Tiffany (25 October 2011). "Haunted Hong Kong: Read if you dare". CNN GO. Archived from the original on 3 December 2011. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  2. "妙齡女郎慘遭殘酷碎尸 三名疑犯陸續落網". 11 October 2000. Archived from the original on 6 December 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  3. "Trio sentenced to life in jail for gruesome killing in H.K." 11 December 2000. Archived from the original on 20 April 2008. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  4. Chandler, Clay (9 December 2000). "'Hello Kitty' Murder Case Horrifies Hong Kong". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  5. Yano, Christina (2013). Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty's Trek across the Pacific. Durham: Duke University Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-8223-5363-8.
  6. "Life for 'Hello Kitty' Killers". ABC News. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  7. "Human Pork Chop (2001) and the Hello Kitty Murder". Cinematic Shocks. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2021.

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