Hong Kong ex-professor Khaw Kim Sun found guilty in retrial of ‘yoga ball murder’ case
Hong Kong Free Press
Former university professor Khaw Kim Sun has been found guilty and sentenced to life for a second time following a retrial, in which he was convicted of murdering his wife and daughter with a carbon monoxide-filled yoga ball in 2015.
A seven-member jury in High Court on Tuesday unanimously found Khaw, a Malaysian-born anaesthesiologist formerly employed by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, guilty of two counts of murder after deliberating for close to four hours.
Khaw did not submit a mitigation plea and was sentenced to life in jail, according to The Witness.
Tuesday’s verdict marked the end of Khaw’s high-profile “yoga ball murder” case, in which he was accused of putting a carbon monoxide-filled exercise ball in the boot of a Mini Cooper to kill his wife Wong Siew Fing and their 16-year-old daughter Lily on May 22, 2015. Khaw was 50 at the time.
He was first found guilty and sentenced to life in 2018, but won appeals against his conviction at the Court of Final Appeal in November 2023, with the five-judge bench ordering a retrial.
The jury began their closed-door deliberations shortly after 11:30 am on Tuesday following the retrial, which lasted 41 days.
Giving guidance to the jury before their deliberation, Deputy High Court Judge Brian Keith said Khaw must be ruled guilty if the jury found that the ex-professor had placed the yoga ball in the vehicle.
During the retrial, Khaw denied that he had put the yoga ball in the car, saying there was no direct evidence in the case that could prove the murder.
He also told the court that Wong had accepted his extra-marital affair and the two were not getting a divorce. He wept and said he was shocked as he recalled the day when he heard about his wife and daughter being sent to hospital in an unconscious state after performing a surgery at work.
The court previously heard that Khaw brought two yoga balls filled with the lethal gas home to get rid of rats — a claim that was challenged by the prosecution.
Prosecutors said Khaw must have known that inhaling carbon monoxide could be deadly and accused him of plotting a “perfect crime.”
They also told the court that there was no evidence suggesting Wong would have committed suicide, and that Khaw had the motive to commit the murder to avoid a division of assets in case of a divorce.
According to the case details revealed in court, Wong and Lily were found unconscious in the Mini Cooper in Ma On Shan and were later pronounced dead at hospital. Autopsy results showed that they had died from inhaling a high concentration of carbon monoxide.
Police at first could not identify the source of the gas, but they later found a deflated yoga ball in the boot of the car that had been pumped with the gas.
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