Page:HKSAR v. Xu Shengqi (CACC 463-2010).djvu/6

Rh examination was of the opinion that the lower band of tape was distorted and appeared to have been dislocated from a higher original position, possibly her mouth. Her arms were tied together in a similar manner to those of her sister, except that the strand of cable securing her wrists and going round her neck was not twisted together behind her back to form a complete loop. Her ankles were also tied together with yellow cable. The cause of her death was suffocation.

The prosecution case

15. It was the prosecution case that the applicant murdered all four victims, with money as the probable motive. The prosecution maintained that the applicant’s claim that he had an affair with Madam Tong was not credible and was merely an attempt to bolster his evidence that Mr Tam had attacked him after discovering the affair. The prosecution contended that the elaborate way in which the three female victims had been bound clearly showed a murderous intent on the part of the applicant.

The defence case

16. The applicant gave evidence in his own defence. He said that Mr Tam owed him money for the work he had done on the renovation of the Tams’ home, that Mr Tam had discovered that the applicant had an affair with Madam Tong and angrily confronted him about this and then attacked him, that in the heat of the ensuing struggle he had stabbed Mr Tam in a fit of anger.

17. As to the other deceased, the applicant said that, when he broke the news of Mr Tam’s death to her, Madam Tong’s reaction of screaming and throwing things at him provoked him into tying her up but that he did not expect her to die as a result. In the case of the two daughters, they have seen what he