Lam Kwok-wai

Case record: Lam Kwok-wai

Background

Lam Kwok-wai was one of Hong Kong's two known serial killers. Another was Lam Kor-wan.

Lam Kwok-wai spent his formative years in Tuen Mun. His father was already 60, and his stepmother and four siblings were the first residents in a 450-square-foot flat of Tai Hing House. When they arrived in 1980 the block was new. Over the next 14 years the home decayed, with paint peeling away and being replaced by graffiti and brown spit stains. Adverts for “quick and easy” loans appeared on lift walls, and management locked the roof and bricked up upper storey communal windows in a bid to stem suicides.

Lam Kwok-wai’s biological mother left the family to live with another man when he was three. His father, a hawker, was drinking “a catty of rice wine a night,” and his stepmother was miserable. Lam’s relationship with his brothers and sisters was loveless. He learnt the “classic Chinese strategy for communal living - silence.” His sister said the atmosphere in the family flat was ugly beyond repair:

"Night after night father would sit and drink and say nothing while the rest of the family would watch television in silence. Sometimes no more than a few words would be spoken in that flat over the course of a week."

As time went by Lam withdrew into himself. Later he told psychiatrists of “a terrible feeling of boredom and emptiness.”

Lam’s school life was poor. The move to Tuen Mun required his third move to a new school in as many years. His conduct was poor, and after repeating Form One and doing badly he decided to quit school forever at 15. The same year Lam’s father got into trouble with loansharks and had to flee to Macau for a while.

Lam took the chance to get out of the house. He said: “I began hanging out with other boys my age in gangs in the parks around Tuen Mun,” and added:

"Sometimes we would pass the time stealing or shoplifting. Sometimes we would beat people up or get into gang-fights. Once or twice we chased and killed dogs - anything to get rid of the boredom."

One time, Lam went too far and, aged 15, was sentenced to two months in a detention centre.

After his release he drifted from one menial job to another, and continued living in silence with his family and hanging out with his peers at night. He said:

"I started getting into gambling - playing cards with the others in the park,"

and: “Then when I was 18 I tried drugs, mainly because everyone else was.”

He tried Mandrax, cough syrup and marijuana, but none appealed to him as much as alcohol. His girlfriend Ah-sum taught him to drink every day, and he said he liked it “very much,” describing his preferences:

"Beer and brandy are my favourite but wine is good too. I liked the effect. It made me able to wander around aimlessly without feeling bored. I liked the way it made me feel retarded."

His self-esteem was very low. He dumped his girlfriend because:

"she was too superior to me, from a better family and much more successful at school,"

He settled into a pattern of casual affairs and weekly visits to Mongkok prostitutes.

Lam’s excitement and status became his goals. Playing cards gave way to gambling trips to Macau. Petty theft gave way to “more exciting” theft from cars. He discovered road racing. Chief Inspector Wong Win-kee said:

"I think he was some kind of genius at illegal road-racing,"
"His will to win blocked out everything else. He would rather die than lose face by doing badly in a race. He would think nothing of causing others to crash or risk pedestrian life. The adrenalin kick and the status he got from winning became addictive. Afterwards, I think he found real life just too boring."

Lam’s father, already 60, later got into trouble with loansharks and fled to Macau for a while during Lam’s teenage years. The record also described family arguments rage, gambling addiction among mahjong-playing housewives, and Sun Yee On’s involvement in drugs, vice and loan-sharking in Tuen Mun. It described inadequate parenting skills and social isolation as part of Tuen Mun’s problem. It also described that child abuse was “the worst in Hong Kong.”

The offence

Lam Kwok-wai committed ten attacks upon women in the Tuen Mun and Hung Hom areas between 24th April 1992 and 5th August 1993. He faced 18 counts: seven of robbery, eight of rape and three of murder. He pleaded guilty to the robbery and the rape counts and was found guilty after trial on the three murder counts.

At trial the defence relied on diminished responsibility. Counsel for the appellant took no issue with the trial judge’s direction as to diminished responsibility. Evidence was called from Dr. Connell, who said that Lam Kwok-wai was suffering from a long-standing and consistent pattern of irresponsibility made worse by drinking far too much, and that he would have had difficulty controlling his impulses and his aggression. The doctor was satisfied that the strict criteria for a diagnosis of diminished responsibility were fulfilled.

In one of the killings and rapes, forensic examination revealed that Lam raped and sodomised Li Hing after he had killed her.

April 24, 1992: first rape

The record described April 24, 1992 as an average day in Tuen Mun, during which Lam had been drinking heavily. His first victim was a 19-year-old woman. Lam followed her as she got out of a taxi and walked into the No 1 lift of Oi Ming House. As the doors were closing he burst in, squeezed her throat with his right hand until “blood spots appeared on her cheeks and eyelids,” and she awoke “in a pool of blood on the third floor staircase,” with her jeans pulled down, her top pulled up, and her virginity gone.

Two months later: second rape

Two months later almost to the day Lam struck again. He randomly tailing a woman who returned home at 4.30 am. She was 32-years-old and worked as a waitress in Wan Chai’s Club Versailles. He grabbed her from behind with his right hand on her neck, squeezing until blood seeped out of the veins on her face, her eyes and her eardrums. He dragged her underneath a staircase in a nearby building and raped her. Lam told police:

"I slept at home all day and woke up very late,"
"I was bored. I walked and walked near Tai Hing Estate until I saw a plump, shortish woman walking in my direction. At the time I just wanted to snatch her things. But when I went up to her she resisted. I grabbed her neck with my hands. She got dizzy. I dragged her underneath a staircase of a nearby building. I took off her trousers and mine and raped her."

Afterwards he went home, got into his bunk bed fully clothed and slept, and his family never asked where he had been.

Subsequent rapes

The record described further attacks in a pattern that did not waver. It stated that one month later he raped a 32-year-old woman, and 25 days later he raped a 28-year-old woman. One of these victims spent three days in hospital recovering.

The record described a 39-year-old woman grabbed at 4 am who was waking 50 minutes later half-naked. It also described a 32-year-old woman entering lift two of Hing Ping House at 11.30 pm, with Lam rushing in and gripping her throat until she passed out, after which he dragged her to a stairwell on the 28th floor.

By now people of Tuen Mun and the press were in a state of panic. It described that Lam was a brutal serial rapist capable of strangling women to the point of death, and that his victims had been lucky to wake up again.

Li Hing: murder, rape and sodomy

Li Hing was not so lucky. She was a 50-year-old Yaohan department store assistant. She entered the lift to her home in the Yau Oi estate at 4am while returning from a mahjong game. Lam had spent the evening in his usual “retarded” stupor. Lam told police:

"On the day I felt really bored, "
"he later told police."
"I sat around at home, then I went for a walk. Later I took a taxi to go home. On passing the Yau Oi estate I saw the hawkers selling food. I stopped the cab and bought some food from the hawker. I sat in the park outside Yau Oi estate, eating the food and drinking the beer. I drank a couple of bottles. I don't know how long it was but later I saw the unaccompanied woman walking towards the building. I suddenly felt very excited and wanted to have her. "
"I followed her into the lift. She was a bit fat and had messy hair. Each of us pressed one button. We were standing face to face. As the lift doors closed I grabbed her by the neck. When the lift door opened I pushed her out and dragged her to the rear staircase. At the staircase I pushed her on to the floor and seized her neck with my hands till she stopped moving. Then I pulled up her clothes and took off her pants. I rubbed her belly and lowered my trousers and raped her."

The record stated that forensic examination revealed Lam had raped and sodomised Li Hing after he had killed her.

April 14, 1993: Mak Siu-han murder and rape

On April 14, 1993 Lam killed again. His victim was Mak Siu-han, a 22-year-old disc jockey returning home from a stint at the New World Hotel’s Catwalk Disco at 5 am. She was found raped and dead between the fifth and sixth floors of Hing Shing House where she lived at 7.45 am.

The record stated that by counting the number of people who used the stairwell between 6 am and 7.45 am police estimated that this time up to 40 people may have stepped over the body before the murder was reported.

Lam’s nonchalant explanation was:

"I did not want to kill her. I just squeezed her neck too hard,"

He later gave investigators a detailed account. The record stated:

"I got into the lift together with her. We stood face to face. I had a sudden impulse. I wanted to have her. I grabbed the girl with my right hand and squeezed her neck. When the lift door opened I pushed her out of the lift and carried her to the rear staircase. I put her on the floor. The girl came round and started to yell. I became more excited. I couldn't stop myself. I had this strong desire to have her. I kicked her and beat her. She lost consciousness and lay on the ground. I lowered her jeans and underpants . . ."

Lau Sui-man and July 11, 1993

After the Mak Siu-han killing, the record described that more than 200 Tuen Mun residents demonstrated against inadequate policing. Security escort services were set up, and fear paralysed the locals.

Lam fled Tuen Mun to stay with his elder sister in Hunghom. In Hunghom, he murdered Lau Sui-man, a 23-year-old karaoke public relations hostess, and raped again on July 11, 1993. On this occasion the victim regained consciousness and struggled home.

August 8, 1993: attempted to be caught arrangement

The record stated that Lam’s tenth and last rape was the strangest and led to his arrest. It described psychologists saying he wanted to be caught.

On August 8, 1993, just after 1.30 am, he attacked and raped a 21-year-old woman in Hunghom’s Mei King Street. The record described him beating her face and kicking her and raping her on a wooden cart in a side street. Then he stopped, started chatting, and shared a cigarette with the victim while walking along the road. He asked:

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

and the girl replied yes.

A date was arranged at the UA Whampoa cinema the next evening. Lam said:

"Please be there,"
"I'm a mess now in this old T-shirt and jeans but I promise I will be smart tomorrow. You'll be proud of me."

The victim reported the rape to her mother-in-law, who told her to forget about it. The following afternoon she told her brother, a Correctional Services officer, who took her to police. The record described stake-out arrangements in which the victim was to scratch her head as a signal.

At 8.30 pm Lam approached the woman at the Whampoa Ship cinema. He wore a creased white shirt, ironed black dress trousers and black all-leather shoes, with heavily gelled hair and cologne. The record stated that the police were distracted; when nothing happened, the victim screamed and the police moved in, but Lam ran away. The record stated that it was the victim’s brother who rugby tackled him.

Suicide attempt by self-harm in custody

In police custody Lam was described as crying, lonely, and repeatedly asking for officers to come and visit him in jail. In the record, Chief Inspector Wong said:

"He wanted to be loved,"
"He was very lonely. He cried a lot and kept asking for officers to come and visit him in jail."

The record described confessions being eased out by police. It also stated that Lam had just confessed to the murder of the three women when he started screaming, slid off his chair, writhed, banged his head on the tiles, and whispered:

"I can see them. They are watching me. I can see their ghosts going round the table."

It described him crying, and later falling into a deep sleep. The record stated that in court he spent time staring at and stroking the contours of his right thumb and forefinger and that he had even given his hand a name, calling it his “fork.”

The record stated that in the Siu Lam psychiatric centre he tried to turn the weapon on himself. It described that he put his “fork” to his throat and squeezed.

Investigation and arrest

After Li Hing’s murder, a major police operation was mounted using Miidass (Major Incident Investigation and Disaster Support System), used in the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. Extra undercover units were drafted and women police officers posed as decoys, climbing in and out of lifts alone between midnight and 6 am while male officers waited on upper floors. Chief Inspector Wong said:

"I have never been so worried about my team,"
"Our pathologists believe that Lam's throat grip could kill within five seconds. The lift would take at least 10 seconds to get to the first floor which meant these women officers stood a good chance of being murdered."

The record stated that volunteers only took part.

The record described that everyone convicted of wife battering, assault and sexual offences was scrutinised. Many people were trailed and arrested. Despite this, “Sik Moh - fitting none of the usual rapist profiles,” remained at large, described as being just 21, living at home, and having no previous sexual offences.

The record also described an earlier telephone contact. A few months after Li Hing’s murder Lam telephoned Wong Kwong-ching, described as an old schoolmate and perhaps Lam’s only friend. The conversation included:

"I've killed someone - it's on the news now,"
said Lam.

Wong checked the screen and asked:

"Do you like women who are 50-years-old?"

Lam replied:

"Don't ask,"

Lam asked:

"Look, do you think I am mentally unbalanced?"

Wong said:

"I don't know what to say,"

and hung up. Later Lam phoned the police hotline and said only:

"You should make your photo-fit thinner in the face,"

before hanging up.

Lam’s arrest was described as occurring after the August 8, 1993 rape and the subsequent planned cinema meeting, where he was rugby tackled by the victim’s brother.

Trial

At trial before Bewley J. and a jury, Lam Kwok-wai pleaded guilty to robbery and rape counts and was found guilty after trial on three murder counts.

In sentencing, the trial judge said:

"You have pleaded guilty to eight counts of rape and seven counts of robbery. You are serving a sentence of life imprisonment on three counts or murder. Although the circumstances of the individual rapes are not untypical of this offence in Hong Kong, looked at as a whole, the series of rapes over a long period, accompanied by a considerable violence in most cases make it one of the worst cases that come before the court, a very long sentence is appropriate in such cases. Both the nature of the offences and your history indicate that you are of unstable character and likely to commit such offences in future. That poses an unacceptable threat to the women of Hong Kong. In my judgment the only proper sentence in such circumstances is one of life imprisonment. That is the sentence I pass on the eight rape counts. There will be concurrent sentences of 7 years' imprisonment on the robbery counts."

Mandatory sentences of life imprisonment were imposed on each of the three murder counts. The court also imposed a life imprisonment sentence on the eight rape counts, and concurrent sentences of 7 years’ imprisonment on the robbery counts.

At the trial Lam relied upon diminished responsibility, calling evidence from Dr. Connell.

Murder conviction: relevant cautioned statements quoted in the Court of Appeal decision

The Court of Appeal decision quoted relevant statement parts made by the accused.

For the first murder count, the accused said:

"When the lift was going up, I grabbed the woman by her neck. When the door of the lift opened, I pushed her outside the door and dragged (her) to the near staircase. At the staircase, I pushed her onto the floor and seized her neck with (my) hands until she could hardly move and then I took my hands off (off)."

For the second murder count, the accused said, including:

"Then we entered the lift together and we stood face to face. I had a sudden impulse and wanted very much to fuck her. When the lift door opened, I grabbed the girl by her neck with my right hand and pushed her out of the lift. Then I carried and lifted up the girl in my left arm and walked to the rear staircase along rooms No.1 to No.12. Then I put the girl on the floor. After I had put her down on the floor, I did not grab her by the neck anymore. But the girl kept moving about and even yelled. So I grabbed her by her neck with both of my hands and we started to struggle. I also dragged her down to the landing in the middle. At that time, I saw that the girl did not move."

For the third murder count, the accused said:

"I forked her to death inadvertently."

and later, with additional detail:

"... she put on her clothes. I also put on my pair of trousers. We sat on the stairs. I asked her if (she) was very frightened. However, she did not say a word. I then squatted in front of her and wanted to chat with her. However, she slapped me across my face. After she had given me several slaps, I then lost control of myself. (I) grabbed her by the neck with both of my hands. Also, she sat quite close to the wall. I grabbed (her) forcefully and hit her head against the wall. Following that (I) lifted her whole body by grabbing her. Following that, I found that she was motionless. I then put her down. I was very confused. After I had thought for a while, (I) then ran back home."

Appeals

The Court of Appeal case was titled “IN THE COURT OF APPEAL BETWEEN THE QUEEN AND LAM KWOK-WAI.” The case included:

• CACC000525/1994
• 1994, No.525
• Coram: Hon. Power, Ag. C.J., Bokhary & Ching, JJ.A.
• Date of hearing: 16 August 1995
• Date of judgment: 16 August 1995
• Judgment: Power, V.-P. (giving the judgment of the Court)

The applicant faced three murder convictions and appealed against them and against the sentences of life imprisonment on the eight rape counts.

At the Court of Appeal hearing, only one ground had been argued. The ground read:

"The learned Judge erred in directing the jury that as the cautioned statements, video re-construction, and medical reports are not challenged, they should have no difficulty in accepting that the Crown has proved that the Appellant had an intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm on each murder count."

Counsel for the appellant was Mr. Lok Q.C., with him Mr. H.Y. Wong.

The Court of Appeal considered the background that intention was not an issue at the trial because the defence was that the unlawful killing was excused by reason of diminished responsibility. The Court of Appeal said it would have been wrong had the trial judge misdirected the jury as to the effect of what was said in the statements, and stated that the trial judge did not do so.

On each count, the Court of Appeal held it was difficult to see objections to the trial judge’s observations:

• For the first count, it found no difficulty in accepting that an unchallenged statement admitting an intention to choke the victim into submission gave the jury no difficulty in accepting that there was intention at least to cause grievous bodily harm.
• For the second count, it found that given the admission that he caused the victim’s death by choking her into submission, no proper objection could be taken to the judge’s observation.
• For the third count, it treated “lost control” in context as meaning losing temper after being slapped, and it stated the jury clearly rejected diminished responsibility; it found nothing in the complaint as to the judge’s direction.

The application for leave to appeal against conviction was refused.

On sentences for the rape counts, counsel for the appellant submitted that life imprisonment should only be used where the mental condition of the offender was such that he would probably commit grave offences in the future, and that there was no evidence that his unstable character could not be cured by proper medical treatment. The Court of Appeal stated:

"It may be that the applicant will at some time in the future respond to treatment."

It then stated:

"The hard fact of the matter however, as things stand today, is that the applicant's condition is such that he is wholly unable to control his sexual impulses."

The Court of Appeal also found:

"There is, further, nothing which indicates that he will respond to treatment or, if so, when the applicant poses a continuing and dreadful menace to the women of Hong Kong and in the circumstance we are satisfied that the trial judge was quite right to impose the sentences which he did."

The application was also refused in relation to sentences.

Sentencing

Life imprisonment was imposed on the eight rape counts.

Concurrent sentences of 7 years’ imprisonment were imposed on the robbery counts.

Outcome

The Court of Appeal refused the application for leave to appeal against conviction and refused the application against the sentences.

The record stated that Lam Kwok-wai had been convicted of 10 rapes and 3 murders.

Aftermath and identified victims

The record identified murder victims:

• Li Hing, female, age 50; body found in the Yau Oi estate, Tuen Mun.
• Mak Siu-han, female, age 22; body found in Hing Shing House, Tuen Mun.
• Lau Sui-man, female, age 23; body found in Hung Hom.

The record said that Lam’s murder weapon was his bare hands, and that he referred to his right hand as his “fork.”

The record described that Lam was portrayed in the movie Tun Men se mo (The Rapist) (1994).

The record included that Sik Moh or Sex Devil was the Chinese press nickname for Lam.

The record described uncertainty about true victim count, stating that traditional reluctance of Chinese women to admit they had been raped meant Lam’s true number of victims was probably 15 or 16.

Other details

The record included descriptions of Miidass being used in the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper, and that the police operation included under-cover decoys.

A conversation described the “special impression” idea regarding his flight and the mention that his leather shoes mattered during the escape attempt.

The record described the “fork” concept in court and in the Siu Lam psychiatric centre.