Henry Chau will be sentenced next month for the brutal murder of his parents. He killed them, cut them up and cooked them — and may also have eaten some of their remains. Source: Austral International Press Agency
IT was a shopping list that contained a wicked plan for a brutal murder.
Henry Chau jotted down notes for things he needed — pork knives, fruit knives, hammers, bleach, rice cookers and a microwave.
All fairly ordinary items except Chau wasn’t planning to cut up vegetables. He was planning to cut up his parents.
There was worse to come further down the list. Under a heading titled “Plan B” the 31-year-old wrote in chilling detail about “cut the skin” and “cut the organs” and also made reference “blood taking” and “hair shaving”.
After that it was “take the body to the nest” and his twisted reasoning about how authorities wouldn’t be able to prove they were dead if “they can’t find it.”
According to his list Chau believed it would take three days to properly dismember the bodies and it could involve up to 20 body parts.
The killings happened on March 1, 2013.
The shopping list formed part of the prosecution case against Chan who was found guilty last week of double murder of his father Chau Wing-ki, 65, and mother Siu Yuet-yee, 63.
The macabre list wasn’t the only piece of evidence that convinced jurors to convict what the trial judge called “an extremely dangerous man” and “an actor” who couldn’t be trusted.
Henry Chau was found guilty of double murder of his parents while his co-accused Tse Chun-kei (pictured) was found not guilty. Source: Supplied
But the court heard while making a police report, he sent text messages to friends confessing to the killings. He later revealed more details in front of a relative and a friend, including his ambition to be a serial killer, before he was arrested with co-accused Tse Chun-kei, 38.
Tse was cleared of both murder charges but found guilty of preventing a lawful burial. However he has been in custody since his arrest last year so was released on time already served.
Forensic officers recovered the couple’s heads stored in two large refrigerators. Several plastic lunch boxes containing chopped flesh and organs were also found.
However another three plastic boxes containing salted body parts were found in a different room, but all the body parts were not recovered.
Police believe the missing remains had been cooked in the microwaves and eaten. What motivated Chau remains unknown.
Victim 1: Chau Wing-ki, 65 Source: Supplied
Victim 2: Siu Yuet-yee, 63 Source: Supplied
Pathologist Mak Chun-hung gave evidence at the trial and provided an insight to the final, brutal moments the parents must have endured.
Mak told the court of what he saw when he opened two sealed refrigerators and saw the human heads.
“The heads were placed neatly on towels with their eyes not fully closed,” Mr Mak said, although he was reluctant to recall more details of what he saw.
The court was told there were some lunch boxes and plastic bags inside the fridges with small pieces of human remains including the sexual organs of the deceased. The bigger pieces were salted in plastic boxes, the South China Morning Post reported.
“The colour of the meat looked different. I believed they had been cooked in hot water.” Some of the body parts were preserved by salt but the flesh was already decaying.
Chau admitted he had stabbed his parents to death and alleged Tse was his partner in crime, who had killed his mother and dismembered the body.
The fridges where the parents heads were stored. Source: Supplied
He later tried to plead to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
But Tse denied having been party to the plan. In his version of events, Chau had shown him a box of human remains and threatened to hurt his mother. Police later found a shopping list and notes on the plot under Tse’s mattress.
In a rare move, the judge Michael Stuart-Moore commented on the jury’s decision after it was delivered.
“Henry Chau is always blaming anyone but himself. He is a complete failure in life and soul,” Mr Stuart-Moore said.
He described accomplice Tse as “naive and vulnerable … being bullied and used by people all your life”.
Speaking to him directly he said: “Henry Chau is kind to you, generous to you … but he is just using you.”
Chau was calm as the verdict was passed, while Tse kept nodding and almost cried when he heard he would be free.
Chau will be sentenced next month.