HK Court Jails Taiwan Murder Suspect For 29 Months

A Hong Kong man involved in a Taiwan murder case – which has become the basis of a major political controversy in Hong Kong – was jailed for 29 months over money laundering charges on Monday.

This sentence means Chan Tong-kai, 20, could remain in jail till August 2020. But barrister and executive councillor Ronny Tong said the convict could be freed as early as this October under parole rules.

Chan pleaded guilty to taking money and property worth around HK$32,000 from his girlfriend who was killed on the island in February 2018.

Taiwan police also accuse Chan of murdering his girlfriend, 20-year-old Poon Hiu-wing, who was pregnant. But he cannot be surrendered as there is no extradition agreement between Hong Kong and the island.

Hong Kong police had detained Chan and charged him with money laundering after he admitted using his murdered girlfriend's bank cards to take money out of her account. They say he has also confessed to the murder.

Citing the murder case, the Carrie Lam administration has introduced a bill that will amend current laws to allow case-by-case extraditions of fugitives to jurisdictions with which Hong Kong does not have a proper treaty, including Taiwan, Macau and the mainland.

But the proposed new legislation has drawn widespread concerns locally and abroad, as many fear this will see Beijing demanding the extradition of dissidents and political opponents.

Chan was calm upon hearing his sentence at the High Court.

Judge Anthea Pang said she had noted that he had been in custody since March last year – the month after Poon's body was found in a suitcase in New Taipei.

Pang noted that there may be a "genuine sense of unfairness" that prosecutors could not bring a case against Chan for "a most heinous crime", but said he was entitled to a fair trial and that could only be for the money laundering charges and not the murder.

If this "fundamental principle" cannot be uphold, the "integrity of the entire criminal justice system" would be affected, the judge said.

In determining the length of the prison term, she noted that it was a serious offence for Chan to have taken the possessions of the deceased all the way from Taiwan to Hong Kong.

Pang said that was one of the aggravating factors that warranted a 29-month prison term.

Chan's lawyers refused to say if they will launch an appeal. The prosecution lawyers also remained tight-lipped after the verdict.

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