A 31-year-old local man who hid the body of his ex-girlfriend in a bedroom wardrobe was found guilty of murder by a seven-member jury in the High Court on Tuesday.
Oscar Mok was found guilty – by a 6-1 majority – of murdering 26-year-old Arbe Chan Man-yi, who was a Dragonair flight attendant, in 2013, the Oriental Daily reported.
The court heard earlier that Mok strangled Chan in a jealous rage at her home in Allway Gardens in Tsuen Wan, in the New Territories, on December 4, 2013, and hid her body in a wardrobe in her bedroom.
Mok, a former property agent, admitted the killing but claimed it was manslaughter rather than murder because Chan had provoked him, causing him to lose control and kill her.
Mok fled to the Shenzhen in China after the murder and found a new lover and the pair had a two-year-old son.
But he was located and arrested by authorities on the mainland in November 2016 and sent back to Hong Kong in February last year.
Chan’s father and younger sister appeared in court on Tuesday. The sister said “the judgment gave my sister justice,” and Mok deserved the verdict, Apple Daily reported. Mok had torn her family apart; it was something that could not be remedied and they could not forgive him.
The tragedy began in 2012 when Mok and Chan became lovers. But the pair split up three months before Chan’s death. Mok was “provoked” after he discovered that Chan had a new boyfriend.
Chan’s family did not realize what had happened until four days after the murder. A colleague of Chan called the younger sister and told them that Chan had not attended work the day before and had not applied for leave.
The family then started searching for Chan’s luggage and Chan’s father found her body at the bottom of the wardrobe in Chan’s bedroom.
Sentencing was formally adjourned till Friday, when the court is due to hear a plea for leniency by the defense. But Justice Joseph Yau Chi-lap has already told the jury that Mok will be sentenced to life in prison given his conviction for murder, Sing Tao Daily reported.