A man who stabbed a 7-Eleven shopowner to death over some stolen crisps and tissue last year was jailed for life today (July 13).
Following over three hours of deliberation, a jury of seven convicted Vietnamese-Canadian Bui Van-cuong of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment at the High Court this afternoon. The 32-year-old had pleaded not guilty.
During his trial last week, Bui said a “demon” told him to kill 38-year-old 7-Eleven franchisee Cheng Ka-piu in March 2016.
After testifying that he was “both Christian and Catholic”, Bui said on the stand that he was actually Buddhist, and had become a monk five years ago. The 32-year-old said he entered Hong Kong in December 2015 so as to join a monastery in China, but failed to secure a visa to the mainland and joined a temple on Lantau Island instead.
Bui claimed he had “magic eyes” which saw that the monks on Lantau Island were kidnapping and raping women, which led him to leave the temple, Ming Pao reports.
The defendant said he hadn’t saved any money since he previously intended to live as a monk, so couldn’t afford to pay for food. On March 8, 2016, Bui was caught eating crisps he had stolen from a 7-Eleven convenience store on Pitt Street, Yau Ma Tei, by the shopowner, Cheng.
After being confronted by Cheng, the prosecution said Bui ran to a nearby Wellcome supermarket, stole an eight-inch knife, and returned to stab the 38-year-old in the chest. A video of Bui’s police interrogation was shown in court last week, during which Bui said he had only “borrowed” the crisps and “didn’t intend” on killing Cheng.
Rather, the 32-year-old said Cheng was wearing a “transparent bulletproof vest” which protected him from being hurt. In response, the prosecution then cited five medical reports, which stated that there was a 3-centimeter wound on the right side of Cheng’s chest which damaged his heart, lungs, liver and his pancreas. The report said that Cheng died of organ failure and excessive blood loss.
Two customers who were in the 7-Eleven store at the time of the attack said they saw Bui stab Cheng repeatedly, apparently with the intent to kill him. Prosecutor Phil Chau told the High Court that Bui was heard shouting “You’re gonna die, I swear,” and used such force to stab Cheng that the knife’s blade broke off from the handle.
Bui ran away from the scene shortly after the attack, but was arrested roughly 25 hours later outside a fast food restaurant on Jordan Road. Cheng died from his injuries on March 14.
