A 32-year-old man accused of stabbing a 7-Eleven store owner to death pleaded not guilty to one count of murder at the High Court in Hong Kong on Tuesday but said he had heard a “voice of the devil” before the incident.
Bui Van Cuong, a Canadian of Vietnamese origin, who visited Hong Kong in December 2015, was accused of killing Paul Cheng, 38, a shopkeeper and owner of a convenience store on Pitt Street in Yau Ma Tei in Kowloon, on March 8 last year, Sing Pao reported.
According to closed circuit television footage shown in the court, Bui first stole some food from the shop, and then some potato chips and tissue papers four minutes later. Cheng asked him to pay, but Bui ignored him and ate the chips outside the store.
Bui later returned to the store with a knife stolen from a nearby Wellcome supermarket. He said “You’re gonna die, I swear” to Cheng and stabbed him in the chest with the knife, Apple Daily reported.
Cheng collapsed behind the cashier and was rushed to hospital, but died six days later.
Police arrested Bui at a McDonald’s restaurant in Jordon in Kowloon the day after the attack.
Bui told the officers he had only wanted to threaten the shopkeeper with the knife but a “devil voice” told him to use it to kill someone.
The hearing continued on Wednesday.