‘Accused should be held accountable for both deaths if guilty’, says judge directing jury in yoga ball murder trial

The High Court judge overseeing the so-called yoga ball murder trial has told the jury that the defendant, if guilty, should be held accountable for both the deaths of his wife and daughter, even if he only meant to kill one person.

Judge Judianna Barnes made the remarks this morning as the jury prepares to retire to deliberate on whether or not Khaw Kim-sun is guilty of murdering his wife Wong Siew-fung and their 16-year-old daughter Lily by leaving a carbon monoxide-filled yoga ball in Wong’s Mini Cooper in 2015.

Barnes told the jury, if found guilty, Khaw’s culpability should extend to both deaths, even if he only meant to kill his wife, HK01 reports.

She added that the jurors could consider circumstantial evidence, but noted that if it pointed to more than one possible outcome, then Khaw must be acquitted. They can only convict him if they are sure Khaw was the one who put the ball in Wong’s car, she said.

HK01 reports that Barnes also reminded the jurors to base their verdict on the evidence presented at court, saying they should not be swayed by media reports of Khaw’s family problems.

Barnes is expected to continue her final remarks to the jury tomorrow before they retire to consider their verdict.

Last week, the defense and prosecution summed up their arguments. The defense argued that Khaw had no motive to kill his wife. The prosecution called the deaths “carefully planned.”

The prosecution alleges that Khaw — a 53-year-old anaesthesiologist and associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong — left the ball inside Wong’s car after she refused to grant him a divorce, even though he was having an affair with a student.

Khaw, however, claimed the carbon monoxide was to kill rats in his home and had been obtained as part of an experiment on rabbits. Giving testimony, however, several medical experts cast doubt on the practicality of the experiment described by the defendant.

The defense, however, suggested that either the mother or daughter could have put the yoga ball in the car, with the court hearing a police interview with Khaw alleging that Lily was the only other person who knew the yoga ball had carbon monoxide and could have used it to commit suicide.