Ng Ka-sing (center) was arrested in 2022 and is now convicted of manslaughter (Source: SCMP)
A Hong Kong man was found guilty of manslaughter but was acquitted of killing his girlfriend after jurors accepted his claim that he may have accidentally beaten her to death while trying to help her lose weight by keeping her up all night.A High Court jury on Friday ruled by a 5:2 majority that Ng Ka Seng, 29, was not guilty of murdering his partner, 30-year-old Yip Tsz Cheng, at their flat in Hong Shui Kio four years ago. However, the panel unanimously convicted Ng of manslaughter.Judge Judiana Barnes said the ruling showed the jury believed Ng’s claim may be true that he accidentally beat Yip to death while she was on an intense diet.
Murder and discovery of the body
The crime was revealed after Ng was seen dragging a pallet carrying Yip’s body, wrapped in a quilt and layers of plastic film and tape, along Tin Ha Road in the early morning of April 29, 2022. A couple jogging in the area called police after seeing a human leg sticking out of the folded quilt.Forensic examinations found that the deceased, who was 1.59 meters tall and weighed 64 kilograms at the time of her death, had suffered severe burns that had consumed 55% of her body.
She also sustained multiple bruises, abrasions and lacerations to her head and other parts of her body, which were likely caused by blunt force.An autopsy determined the cause of death to be suffocation following head injuries and severe burns to her chest, abdomen, and limbs.
Ng’s defense: “I accidentally hit her.”
In an interview with police, Ng said his partner was on a diet and that he was helping her lose weight by assaulting her to prevent her from sleeping.
He said Yip had been banned from leaving the apartment for three months and deprived of sleep for more than 10 days before the incident.Ng admitted to intermittently hitting his partner with a stick since the night of April 27, but insisted he only did so to keep her awake. He also claimed that the deceased had a tendency to self-harm, alleging that she had sprayed a bottle of drain cleaner on herself that night “for fun”.On the witness stand, Ng said Yip’s sister, whose family shared an apartment with the couple, asked him to assault Yip after accusing the deceased of eating without permission while on a diet.
The accused said that he was forced to submit to the orders of his sister and her husband, who assaulted him on several occasions.He took off his upper clothing at one point to show jurors the scars on his body, which he said were caused by being burned with cotton buds filled with drain cleaner.Ng said he was “very scared” when he realized Yip had died on the morning of April 28. “I didn’t know why she died. My mind went blank.
“I didn’t know what to do. I held her in my arms and told her I was sorry,” he said.The accused said the sworn sister suggested he dispose of Yip’s body through burial, cremation or dismemberment, but Ng found none of the options feasible. He eventually decided to carry Yip’s quilt-wrapped body into the streets, hoping to surrender himself to the police.When he was arrested at 6.36am, Ng said: “This was my girlfriend. I accidentally beat her to death with a rod.”
Judgment is coming
The court heard the mitigation requests and they will be heard on Monday. The judge indicated that the risk of the defendant reoffending in a case of this type was “very low”, but added that she would need more information about Ng’s character before pronouncing the sentence.Ng pleaded guilty to preventing the legal burial of Yip’s body before the trial. He also offered to plead guilty to manslaughter, which the prosecution did not accept.
