Shop worker jailed for 10 years after stabbing boss 15 times

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Shop worker jailed for 10 years after stabbing boss 15 times

Chau Ka-yeung, 19, admitted he had wanted to kill boss Fan Hoi-ting

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 06 November, 2013, 3:57pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 06 November, 2013, 3:58pm

Julie Chu [email protected]

A dispensary shop worker who stabbed his former boss 15 times as revenge for being hit on his head at work was jailed for 10 years at the Court of First Instance yesterday.

Chau Ka-yeung, 19, made clear to the police that his intention had been to kill Fan Hoi-ting, 51, when he was arrested shortly after the attack on May 8 last year. He said he intended to forgive Fan but could not, and that it had been “a matter of principle” for him to commit the crime.

Chau pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted murder three weeks ago. While in custody awaiting sentencing, Chau told a psychiatrist that it was unfortunate that he could not finish the act that he had planned for so long.

Deputy Judge Michael Stuart-Moore said he was concerned that Chau’s high degree of pent-up anger and grudge over such a trivial matter had caused him to attempt to kill a person.

He referred to two psychiatrists’ reports that revealed Chau had a “high propensity of unpredictability”. But they failed to diagnose Chau of suffering from any mental illness.

The judge said that for a planned and determined attack with its level of violence “the sentence would be no less than 15 years.” He took into consideration that Chau had pleaded guilty to the charge and jailed him for 10 years.

Stuart-Moore praised eyewitness Leung Ho-yin’s bravery of separating Fan from Chau’s attack without concerns for his own safety. He also found a video filmed by female student Mau Yuk-mui at the scene very useful evidence for the case.

Prosecutor Michael Arthur said Chau worked at Fan’s shop at Sheung Shui between December 2011 and late January last year.

In mid-January last year, Fan scolded Chan for an error in counting goods and hit him on his head. Fan did not think Chau was unhappy with him but the shop worker resigned later that month.

Since February last year, Chau kept a knife and took to hiding on a staircase near Fan’s home. He was arrested for loitering in March last year.

He put his plan in action on May 8 but was subdued by a passer-by and two off-duty police officers at the scene.

Fan suffered 15 lacerations on his scalp and thirteen other wounds over his arms and legs. He had also been stabbed in the spleen and lost lots of blood in the incident, leading to a seven day stay in hospital for treatment.