The mother of a murdered Hong Kong woman yesterday blasted the authorities for allowing her daughter’s killer to live as a free man, a case that has festered because China does not recognize Taiwan.
Poon Hiu-wing (潘曉穎), 19, was pregnant when she was strangled by her boyfriend, Chan Tong-kai (陳同佳), during a Valentine’s Day trip to Taiwan in 2018.
The murder, which Chan has admitted to, sparked a chain reaction that led to huge democracy protests the following year and has been a source of embarrassment for the Hong Kong government.
Photo: AP
Poon’s mother — who has never revealed her name — held an emotional news conference outside the government headquarters yesterday, calling on authorities to either fly Chan to Taiwan or prosecute him locally for murder.
“The Hong Kong government believes that this felon, who can kill again at any time, is fit to walk the streets and threaten people’s lives,” she told reporters.
Chan had “never faced consequences for murder,” she said, after it was revealed earlier this month that he had left police protection and was free to live a normal life.
Hong Kong prosecutors said that they had no jurisdiction to try him for murder. They also declined to send Chan to Taiwan.
After Poon’s murder, the territory tried to pass a law that would allow extraditions to both Taiwan and mainland China, but that sparked protests by Hong Kongers who feared that the law could see them disappear into mainland China’s opaque courts.
Those rallies soon morphed into huge and often violent democracy demonstrations, which convulsed the territory for seven straight months in 2019.
Chan served a short jail sentence in Hong Kong on money laundering charges, as he was in possession of Poon’s credit card on his return from Taiwan. It was during those proceedings that he admitted to killing her.
Chan previously said via an intermediary that he was willing to face justice in Taiwan, but no steps have been taken by him or the Hong Kong authorities to make that happen.
Taiwan and Hong Kong have blamed each other over the impasse.
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