Murder rap for man in bus stabbing

A "control freak" engineer allegedly brutally stabbed his girlfriend more than 30 times to her death on the upper deck of a bus, the High Court heard yesterday.

Ng Yan-kin, 26, was charged with one count of murder.

He intended to plead guilty to a lesser count of manslaughter for killing his 20-year-old student nurse girlfriend Li Sin-heng, but the prosecution rejected that he committed the crime due to mental instability.

The trial started in High Court yesterday before Justice Audrey Campbell-Moffat, who heard that on September 16, 2017, Ng attacked Li with a 28-centimeter knife on the upper deck of CityBus route 118 when the bus reached the Chai Wan bus depot near Fu Shing Court on Chai Wan Road.

Ng then warned other passengers not to come near them and stabbed himself several times before breaking a window with an emergency hammer and jumping out.

The prosecution said Ng met Li through a dating app in July 2016. They were both students at Polytechnic University. Li regarded Ng a "control freak," as he constantly asked on Li's whereabouts and questioned whether Li had cheated on him.

Ng had also forbidden Li from participating in the university's orientation camp and threatened to post their sex videos and photos online. After Li broke up with him, Ng refused to return the material to Li.

The prosecution also said Ng was depressed after Li broke up with him and had considered committing suicide. He was once sent to a hospital after getting drunk because of the breakup.

Ng claimed he had no memory of the crime. He recalls he had gone to a mall near Li's home by taxi on the day of the killing, as he had agreed to delete the sex videos, while Li agreed to delete a recording of him threatening her.

But he said he only remembered what happened before he got off the taxi and after he woke up at the hospital.

However, surveillance footage showed that Ng entered the mall and bought a kitchen knife before boarding the bus at a station near Li's apartment.

The prosecution said evidence will show Ng had intended to kill Li, or at least cause grievous bodily harm.

The defense argued that Ng was mentally unstable when he committed the crime and had no memory of what happened, meaning Ng should receive a lenient sentence.

But the prosecution did not accept that Ng committed the crime due to mental instability, adding that they will summon a psychiatrist to testify Ng's mental state.

The trial continues today.