A Hong Kong court has ordered the release of 14 defendants charged over the alleged murder of a former triad gangster five years ago, finding that prosecutors had failed to prove the deceased sustained fatal head injuries as a result of deliberate assaults rather than from boxing bouts at his gym.
The High Court on Monday directed a jury to acquit the defendants of all charges after ruling the evidence was too weak to draw any inference regarding the circumstances of the alleged offence between June 25 and 26, 2021.
Prosecutors had accused 12 men and a woman, now aged 26 to 34, of being part of a joint enterprise to kill Luk Wing-ho, 27, at his gym in the Rodeo Centre, an industrial building in Tai Kok Tsui.
Tse Ka-chai, Chow Man-hong, Tsui Chun-yin, Mabo Lee, Choi Hung, Kwok Yiu-ki, Lai Ka-po, Lam Chun-hong, Ng Ting-fu, Wong Shing-kwan, Shek King-sang, Anthony Ho Tsan-ue and Leung Cheuk-yung pleaded not guilty to a joint count of murder.
Tse, Shek, Ho and Leung were further charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by erasing evidence relating to Luk’s death.
Lee’s father, Lee Chi-ki, 57, also stood trial on a charge of assisting an offender for allegedly renting a flat in Fanling for his daughter to use as a hideout.
