A man accused of murdering a taxi driver in 2021 planned the attack in advance, prosecutors have said, rejecting the defendant’s earlier statements to police that his mind was being “controlled”.
Matthew Choi, 36, appeared in the High Court on Wednesday for the first day of his murder trial.
He was arrested on Lamma Island after a two-day citywide scavenger hunt in October 2021, after the stabbing of a taxi driver in Sai Ying Pun.
During the prosecution’s opening statements, senior public prosecutor Human Lam said Choi hailed a taxi outside the WE Hotel on Eastern Street at around 5am on the day in question, local media reported. reported. When he got into the taxi, he stabbed the driver.
The driver was pronounced dead at Queen Mary Hospital.
Lam said Choi had told officers, in police custody after his arrest, that his mind was being “controlled” and that he was being targeted by the government. She said the prosecution rejected such claims, adding that Choi clearly knew what he had done.
Choi had checked into the Sai Ying Pun Hotel, had a knife and a towel with him when he hailed the taxi and cleaned himself up after the act, Lam said.
The woman’s testimony
The victim, Wai Kim-hung, was a 48-year-old night-shift taxi driver, the prosecution said.
His wife testified Wednesday. She said she and her husband married in 2002 and that her husband started working as a night shift taxi driver in 2009. He was the breadwinner for their family of five, she said.
A shift taxi driver who rented a taxi with Wai said his partner always cleaned and passed his vehicle meticulously at the end of the night shift and that he was a friendly person.
The trial continued Thursday with more testimony, local media reported reported. A woman surnamed Ng told the court she was walking along Eastern Street when she heard someone screaming for help.
A taxi driver surnamed Chan told the court that when she stopped at a red light, Wai – with a bloody top – approached her. She rolled down the windows and Wai, squeezing her neck, told Chan to call the police.
His voice was not “very strong,” Chan said, adding that she then parked her taxi and called the police. By that time, Wai was already lying on the ground.
After the incident, over HK$500,000 was raised to Wai’s family through the Hong Kong Taxi and Public Light Bus Association.
Manslaughter convictions in Hong Kong result in a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
