Murder of Wang Jiamei

The [...] of Wang Jiamei (Wang Kai Mui) occurred in Hong Kong on April 27th, 2008. The 17-year-old female victim was dismembered after her [...] and some human remains were snuck into the meat market for sale. This incident caused a massive uproar in Hong Kong.

Victim

Wang Jiamei (1991-2008) was born in the Hunan province of China. In 1994, Wang Jiamei’s mother married a man from Hong Kong and in 2005 she moved to the Taiwo public housing in Tai Po Hong Kong. She was admitted to Tai Po San Yu Secondary School, where she excelled in both character and academics. Wang Jiamei did not get along with her stepfather, and not wanting her mother to rely on waste picking to survive, she dropped out of school on January 1st, 2008 to search for work to help support the family.

Wang Jiamei’s older sister stated that she was stubborn, and her relationship with her classmates was poor, but she had many friends outside of school. Usually she would prefer making friends online, and liked to hang out with older people.

According to the “Ming Pao” newspaper, it’s very likely that due to a HK$50,000 debt, Wang Jiamei used the name “Kimi” on an online “Compensated Dating” forum to look for clients and offer [...] services.

She went missing on April 27th, 2008. The family reported her missing on April 29th.

Death and Dismemberment

Leaked information from police indicate that the [...] was 24 year old Ding Qitai (Ting Kai Tai) had met Wang Jiamei online, and invited her to the flat he rented in the Sham Shui Po district of Kowloon to engage in [...] activity. She was murdered during intercourse, and then dismembered out of fear of being caught. Wang Jiamei was murdered in a room on Shek Kip Mei Street, where the [...] then separated the meat from her bones. He then minced the flesh with the internal organs and flushed them down the toilet. He placed her skull and the rest of her body in a Styrofoam box with bricks and tossed off the Kowloon City Pier and into the ocean. The [...] stated that he was originally going to walk from Shek Kip Mei Street to the Kowloon City Pier, but in the process he would go through a tunnel that would arouse police suspicion, so he instead took the Kowloon Bus Line 6C to the Pier where he discarded the corpse. The [...] also took the four limbs and snuck them into the nearby Shek Kip Mei meat market, calling them pig, and believes that some of the meat and bone had already been sold to customers and restaurants.

Police later identified the [...] through the last number dialed on her phone, and discovered DNA that matched the deceased at the place of the incident.

Search

Although the [...] had pleaded guilty, to successfully prosecute it had to be proven that Wang Jiamei had in fact died, and at that point her corpse had yet to be discovered, therefore it was impossible to make a decision with 100% certainty. The best evidence would be to find important parts from her body. Moreover, the [...] weapon, wounds, body and cause of death are important for prosecution. Because of this, the police initiated a large-scale collection of evidence in hopes of finding parts of Wang Jiamei’s body.

On May 8th, the Kowloon West Regional Crime Unit was summoned by the Drainage Services Department to search for ground meat in the alley, drainage pipes and various manholes between Unit 37 and 39 of Shek Kip Mei Street. The alley connecting with the suspected [...] location was blocked off by the police, and entry was prohibited. Drainage service workers entered manholes and dredged up waste and sludge. After an initial filtration, the “residue” was placed in a plastic bag and taken to a government laboratory to verify whether or not the residue contained human flesh. On May 9th there was a huge breakthrough in the case. In the sludge in a manhole near the crime scene over 20 pieces of suspected human flesh were found. These pieces were sent to the lab in hopes that it would be used as key evidence in the trial.

On May 9th the Hong Kong Special Duties Unit initiated a search of the waters near Kowloon hoping to find Wang’s skull and body, however they did not find anything.

On the afternoon of May 10th the prosecution team reconsidered the first crime scene on Shek Kip Mei Street. The toilet in the bathroom was dismantled, and two leather chairs and two bath screens were confiscated. The room was dismantled and walls demolished. The plumbing was also removed in hopes of finding traces of Wang’s corpse.

Public Reaction

The case of the dismembered corpse sparked “Cannibal” panic in Hong Kong. Nearby restaurants, cafes and many housewives were worried they had mistakenly cooked human flesh. Criminologists have pointed out the similarity of the [...]’s level of cool-headedness and that of Lam Kor-wan, “The Rainy Night Butcher.”

Tang King-Shing, the Commissioner of Police expressed that this case was very serious, and the police would actively investigate it, with hopes that the victim will be found as soon as possible. He also revealed that they were considering dispatching people back to the Kowloon City Pier to search.

Ruling

The case was concluded on July 27th, 2009 in the High Court of Hong Kong. The defendant, Ding Qitai, was convicted on one count of [...]. The judge, Wei Yizhi, pointed out that the way the defendant committed this [...] was barbaric, nauseating and horrifying. He sentenced the defendant to life in prison.

In 2011, Ding Qitai was suspected of attacking fellow prisoners in Stanley Prison.

References