A 13-year-old girl sought help from the authorities after experiencing disturbing nightmares and claiming to be visited by the spirit of a decapitated woman every night. Initially unaware of the severity of the situation, the police soon found themselves in the midst of a chilling investigation.
The teenager, known as Ah Fong in court, had been manipulated and taken in by a dangerous criminal organization. She recounted witnessing and sometimes participating in the brutal torture of a young woman.
Upon reaching the location where the gruesome acts occurred, law enforcement officers, who initially suspected the teenager of seeking attention, were immediately struck by the foul odor of decaying flesh. It was then that they uncovered the dismembered body of Fan Man-yee, a 23-year-old nightclub hostess who had been kidnapped due to a debt owed to a triad member. Even in death, Fan’s remains were treated with unimaginable disrespect.
According to a report dated May 27, 1999, by the South China Morning Post, Fan’s body was discovered “stuffed in three bags scattered around a flat and on a canopy” in a third-floor apartment in Hong Kong’s Kowloon district, a known area associated with various Triad gangs.
The following day, the same publication detailed that authorities were still searching for additional body parts at the Granville Road apartment, which was filled with Hello Kitty merchandise. It later emerged that Fan’s skull had been hidden inside a Hello Kitty mermaid plush toy.
As investigators made this grim discovery, they began piecing together the grim fate that befell Fan in her final weeks. It was revealed that Fan owed around HK$20,000 to local gangster Chan Man-lok, who, along with accomplices Leung Shing-cho and Leung Wai-lun, abducted her and held her captive at the apartment for several horrific weeks.
Based on Ah Fong’s testimony, Fan endured severe abuse, including being burned with hot objects, beaten with water pipes, and subjected to prolonged periods of restraint. Ah Fong explained that this was done to prevent Fan from removing the scabs from her burnt feet.
One incident reported by Free Malaysia Today described how Chan viciously attacked Fan around 50 times while Ah Fong participated, expressing that she felt it was done for amusement.
Although the accused admitted to preventing Fan from receiving a proper burial, they denied responsibility for her death during the trial, attempting to shift blame onto each other. The jury ultimately convicted the three men of manslaughter instead of murder due to insufficient evidence regarding the exact cause of Fan’s demise.
Upon sentencing the defendants to life imprisonment, as reported by The Washington Post, Hong Kong Justice Peter Nguyen criticized their cruelty and emphasized the need to protect society from individuals like them.
Even years after the horrific events transpired, the ghastly crime continued to haunt the neighborhood, leading residents to abandon the apartment building believed to still be plagued by Fan’s spirit. In 2012, the building was demolished, but the memory of the so-called ‘Hello Kitty murder’ remains etched in the collective memory of Hong Kong residents.
