After deliberating for almost seven hours, jurors yesterday delivered a guilty verdict in the so-called “yoga ball murder” trial, a unanimous decision swiftly followed by the imposition of a life sentence for Malaysian-born professor Khaw Kim-sun.
Khaw, the jury agreed, murdered his wife Wong Siew-fung and their 16-year-old daughter Lily with a “calculated” plan as bizarre as the case’s nickname suggests, according to Apple Daily.
Ming Pao reports that family members, including Khaw’s two surviving daughters and son, were present at court yesterday, and as he was led out of the dock, they told him to “stay strong too.”
The children did not respond to reporter’s questions outside the courtroom, but only said they would support their father.
A well-regarded anaesthesiologist teaching at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Khaw, 53, placed a leaking yoga ball filled with carbon monoxide in the boot of his wife’s Mini Cooper.
On May 22, 2015, a jogger came across the hatchback parked at a bus stop in Ma On Shan. Inside were Wong and her daughter, both unresponsive. Shortly after, the pair were certified dead. The cause was carbon monoxide poisoning.
The incident set off a long police investigation with officers, after ruling out the car as the source of the poisonous gas, eventually pinpointing the yoga ball as central to the deaths, writes the SCMP in a piece quoting anonymous officers discussing the complex probe.
In a captivating trial lasting 21 days, much time was devoted an experiment planned by Khaw which prosecutors said was a cover for obtaining the carbon monoxide for the true purpose of murdering his wife.
A number of experts, for both sides, weighed in on the usefulness of the experiment, which included the use of rabbits. Khaw, however, did admit to taking gas-filled yoga balls home but claimed he intended to use the carbon monoxide to kill rats infesting their house.
The alternative explanations offered by the defense — that Lily, aware of what the yoga ball contained, had used them to commit suicide, or had, herself, intended to use the gas to kill insects — were, however, rejected by the five men and four women of the jury.
By way of motive, it was pointed to that Khaw and his wife, whose relationship had deteriorated, held joint property investments.
The court heard the pair, though living together, were practically estranged. Khaw, it emerged, had been having an affair with a student, Shara Lee, who he insisted was not involved in the deaths.
The prosecution suggested Khaw did not intend to murder his daughter and had, in fact, advised her to stay home the day of her death.
It is not known if Khaw will appeal his conviction, reported the SCMP
On.cc reports that Khaw was suspended from his position as a member of teaching staff at CUHK and as a doctor at the Prince of Wales Hospital as of September 12 last year, and that CUHK has said they would handle the matter in accordance with established procedures.
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