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Hksar v Yuen Miu Fun

Judgment Cited authorities 3 Cited in Precedent Map Related
Vincent
Judgment Date31 May 2012
Year2012
Judgement NumberCACC279/2010
Subject MatterCriminal Appeal
CourtCourt of Appeal (Hong Kong)
CACC279/2010 HKSAR v. YUEN MIU FUN

CACC 279/2010

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO 279 OF 2010

(ON APPEAL FROM HCCC NO 31 OF 2010)

____________

BETWEEN
HKSAR Respondent
and
YUEN MIU FUN (袁妙芬) Applicant

____________

Before: Hon Stock VP, Yeung VP and Kwan JA in Court
Dates of Hearing: 26 July 2011 and 29 March 2012
Date of Judgment: 31 May 2012

_______________

J U D G M E N T

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Hon Yeung VP (giving the judgment of the Court):

Background Facts

1. Ms Angie Ip Sau-fun (the deceased), a divorced woman in her mid-50s and the owner of a beauty salon situated in a commercial building in Aberdeen, last seen alive at around 2 pm on 19 June 2007, was reported missing the next day. Human blood, strongly suggested to be that of the deceased, was subsequently found on a sports shoe and on the carpet in her beauty salon.

2. On 25 June 2007, the police received a report of a foul odour emanating from a drainage culvert on Wong Ma Kok Road in Regalia Bay, Stanley. The police found a suitcase at the bottom of the drainage culvert with the deceased’s badly decomposed body, in a foetal position, inside. The deceased’s head was hooded in a cloth bag, the opening to which had been tied around her neck with an electrical wire, and her legs were bonded tightly by a towel around the ankle region.

3. The decomposition of the deceased’s body made it impossible for the pathologist to determine the exact cause of death. It could be asphyxiation when the bag and electrical wire were applied on the deceased’s neck. It could be the result of suffocation and smothering, ligature strangulation or postural asphyxia when being put in a position for an extended period of time with mechanical impediment to respiratory movements.

4. Toxicological analysis revealed, in the deceased’s liver, the presence of Estazolam, a central nervous system depressant used for sedation and treating insomnia. The effects of consuming Estazolam include drowsiness, muscle weakness and ataxia, and it can also cause confusion, slurred speech, tremors, visual disturbances and amnesia. An overdose of Estazolam may cause respiratory failure or even death.

5. It was also not possible to determine the contribution of Estazolam to the deceased’s consciousness level at the time of her death, but according to a pharmacist, the deceased had taken the equivalent of two to three tablets, which was a high normal therapeutic dose. The estimated time of death was compatible with the time of the deceased’s reported disappearance on or about 20 June 2007.

6. The applicant (Yuen Miu-fun) told the police that the deceased had a financial dispute with a Mainland doctor – Pao Kwong-keung (Pao) and when the deceased would not or could not repay a large sum of money and/or property obtained from him, Pao engaged two Mainlanders, Huang Xiangrong (Huang) and Yue Wenjie (Yue), to come to Hong Kong to try to recover the money from the deceased. According to the applicant, it was in the course of such an attempt that the deceased was killed.

7. The prosecution suggested that the applicant had agreed with Huang and Yue to murder the deceased and that she had assisted them in the actual killing as well as the subsequent disposal of the deceased’s body.

8. The applicant appeared before Deputy High Court Judge Lugar-Mawson sitting with a jury on two counts, one for murdering the deceased and the other for preventing the lawful burial of her body.

9. On 29 July 2010, the jury unanimously convicted the applicant of both counts. The applicant was sentenced to the respective terms of life imprisonment and 4 years’ imprisonment to run concurrently.

10. Represented by Mr Gerard McCoy SC, the applicant sought leave to appeal against both conviction and sentence. In the course of his submission, Mr McCoy informed the court that the application for leave to appeal against sentence would not be pursued. Mr McCoy concentrated on the murder conviction and had not advanced separate grounds of appeal on the charge of preventing the lawful burial of the deceased’s body.

The Evidence Against the Applicant

11. The prosecution evidence, largely undisputed, showed that Huang and Yue entered Hong Kong from the Mainland with a large suitcase on 18 June 2007 via Lo Wu Border. Accompanied by the applicant, they checked into a guest house in Causeway Bay. The applicant paid the room charges and the key deposit of $840.

12. The applicant, having earlier arranged to meet the deceased at her beauty salon on 19 June 2007, went from Causeway Bay to Aberdeen on board a minibus with Huang and Yue at about noon time. Huang wore a baseball cap and carried a rucksack on his back. Yue, wearing a surgical mask, carried the large suitcase.

13. Upon arrival at Aberdeen, the applicant went up to the beauty salon to meet the deceased whilst Huang and Yue waited in the vicinity. The applicant gave the deceased a drink that had been laced with Estazolam to render her unconscious.

14. After confirming that the deceased had become unconscious, Huang and Yue went up to the beauty salon. Huang put a bag to cover the deceased’s head and Yue strangled her neck with a piece of wire. The applicant then took, from the rear staircase, the large suitcase for Huang and Yue to place the deceased’s body. The applicant then left the beauty salon first to hail a taxi. She told the taxi driver to wait with the boot of the taxi open. She was later joined by Huang, who was pulling the suitcase with both hands and Yue, who was carrying the rucksack. They placed the suitcase in the boot of the taxi.

15. The applicant instructed the driver to drive to Stanley and upon arrival at the entrance of the PLA Barracks they alighted and retrieved the suitcase before paying the fare. They walked to the nearby Regalia Bay where Huang and Yue threw the suitcase with the deceased’s body inside into an open manhole in a drainage culvert.

16. It appeared that the applicant was familiar with the Regalia Bay area as she told the police that she had been to Regalia Bay in the past and she found the apartments there nice.

17. After the disposal of the deceased’s body, the applicant went to Causeway Bay with Huang and Yue and found a public toilet at the World Trade Centre for them to get changed before they returned to the guest house together.

18. Although Huang and Yue had booked a room in the guest house for two nights, they only stayed for one. In fact, it was the applicant who checked out of the guest house for them shortly after 9 p.m. on 19 June 2007 and claimed back the deposit money. By then, the applicant had changed into new shoes and clothes, and she had also discarded both her own used clothes and those of Huang and Yue. The applicant had taken the deceased’s handbag and shared her money with Huang and Yue. The applicant used her share of the money to buy the new shoes and clothes.

19. Huang and Yue left Hong Kong at about 10.30 p.m. on 19 June 2007. The applicant left Hong Kong on 21 June 2007. The police managed to get in touch with her that evening. After being told that the police was investigating the missing of the deceased, the applicant admitted knowing the deceased and had learned of her missing from a friend, but claimed that she did not know where the deceased was.

20. When contacted again on 23 June 2007, the applicant claimed that she did not know that the deceased was missing as she (the applicant) was working in the Mainland.

21. The applicant returned to Hong Kong on 25 June 2007, left for the Mainland again on the same day, and did not return until 18 September 2007 when she was arrested.

22. In subsequent interviews with the police, the applicant said that Huang had informed her over the telephone that the deceased was required to account to Pao for a large sum of money and that her assistance was required to arrange a meeting with the deceased. The applicant said she thought the deceased would be asked to confess and return the money, but admitted that Huang had said that he would injure the deceased.

23. The applicant said she had asked Huang and Yue what would happen if the deceased refused to confess, the reply was that they would “do her in”, and “beat her to death”. The applicant said that according to Huang and Yue, there was a chance of killing the deceased.

24. The applicant also said she noticed that Huang and Yue carried a large empty suitcase and she wondered what it was for, but she was told not to be bothered. According to the applicant, Huang asked her to ensure that the deceased would drink a laced drink, which would cause her to tell the truth.

25. The applicant further said that upon arrival at Aberdeen with Huang and Yue in the early afternoon on 19 June 2007, they had refreshments in a nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet, where a substance was added to a hot drink as the deceased only drank hot drinks. When the applicant later met the deceased at her beauty salon, she gave her the laced drink and the deceased, after consuming the drink, gradually fell asleep, even slobbering as she did so.

26. After confirming over the telephone that the deceased was asleep, Huang came up to the beauty salon with Yue. Huang then placed a hood over the deceased’s head whilst Yue strangled her with a wire. The applicant said she saw blood coming out of the deceased’s nose or mouth. Yue asked the applicant to bring in the suitcase from the rear staircase and they placed the deceased’s body inside. The applicant said she was surprised and shocked at this sudden development, but she nevertheless went downstairs to hail a taxi at their request.

27. The applicant confirmed that Huang and Yue joined her later and put the suitcase with the deceased’s body inside into...

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