Hong Kong body-in-cement murder suspect says he was only following orders by injecting alcohol into victim – as defence begins at High Court
- Suspect says it was his flatmate and co-defendant who came up with the idea of using a syringe to inject the victim with wine
- Three defendants had pleaded not guilty to murder after businessman found encased in a block of cement in Tsuen Wan in 2016
A Hong Kong man on trial for the alleged murder of his business partner, whose body was found encased in cement, has admitted to injecting the victim with alcohol – but said he was only following instructions from his co-defendant.
Testifying for the first day in the High Court, Tsang Cheung-yan, 30, on Thursday said it was his flatmate and co-defendant Keith Lau, 24, who came up with the idea of robbing his 28-year-old business partner Cheung Man-li, nicknamed Ah J.
Tsang said that when he woke up in his flat on March 4, 2016, to find Lau pressing Cheung’s face with one hand while propping on the sofa with the other, he thought his flatmate was carrying out the plan and responded to the request to administer alcohol injections.
“I didn’t know what was happening,” Tsang said. “I only knew that [Lau] was very fierce, so whatever he told me to do, I did it … I was already very frightened.”
Tsang said he “casually took a syringe and … a bottle of wine” then injected two jabs of alcohol into Cheung’s leg, while the man was sandwiched between Lau and their other flatmate, Cheung Sin-hang, also known as Ah K, 26.
