When a university student, drugged and sexually assaulted by her boss, ended up dead

South China Morning Post

5 days ago

'A wealthy businessman who killed a young student with chloroform after luring her to a hotel to film a pornographic video had made explicit videos of three of his employees,' reported the South China Morning Post on August 12, 1994. 'Luk Yee-ling, 21, died after she was drugged and subjected to a
sex attack by property agent Hon Leung-fong and his lover, Phoebe Wong Yim-ping.
How the South China Morning Post reported the crime on August 12, 1994. Photo: SCMP Archives
'After stripping the Baptist College student, Hon filmed her lying naked on the floor and left the camera running as he
indecently assaulted her, the High Court heard. Luk, who had been knocked out with two bottles of chloroform, never regained consciousness and died in hospital two days later.
'Hon and Wong have denied murdering Luk at the Royal Park Hotel, Sha Tin, on July 24 last year but have admitted manslaughter. Hon, 33, described as a 'Hong Kong success story', got to know Luk after she joined his property company, Dairy Sky Industries, during a college holiday.
'Prosecutor Pat Loftus said Wong, 28, lured Luk to the hotel on the pretext of giving her a birthday party. Wong's defence counsel, Niall Stirling, said the former karaoke hostess had been 'infatuated' with Hon, who held considerable influence over her. The pair had started an affair after Hon suggested Wong could repay a $50,000 loan with sexual favours at $5,000 a time. Mr Stirling said: 'He told her he would like to treat her as a mistress, but he wanted to shoot a videotape of her as some sort of token he would retain. He said if she refused to be filmed she would be dismissed and would immediately have to repay the debt. A video film was made of the two of a sexually explicit nature.'
Co-defendant Phoebe Wong Yim-ping in custody following her sentencing at the Hong Kong High Court. Photo: SCMP Archives
''Prior to that he had had sexual relations with two other of his female employees and made video films of them, again of a sexually explicit nature.' But Mr Stirling said that in July the businessman told Wong, who also worked for his firm, he wanted sex with someone else and suggested Luk. Mr Stirling added that '[Hon] said he would want to shoot a videotape of her naked body as he liked to shoot videotapes of girls with whom he had sexual activities to keep as souvenirs. When police raided his home they found a number of videotapes including one involving the first and second defendants in various sexually explicit situations.''
On August 17, the Post reported that 'the wealthy Tuen Mun businessman who killed a 21-year-old student with chloroform after luring her to a hotel room on the pretext of attending a birthday party was yesterday jailed for 8 ½ years [after he] videotaped his
sex attack on Elaine Luk Yee-ling with the help of his mistress Phoebe Wong Yim-ping, 28'.
'Wong was given seven years' jail for her part in what Mr Justice Leonard yesterday described as a 'horrifying, wicked scheme'. The High Court judge said Hon had carried out a 'carefully planned'
assault on Luk to gratify his own 'perverted sexual inclinations'. Wong could not be excused, as she had tricked Luk into believing she would be attending a birthday party. The jail terms the pair received were met with dismay by Luk's family and friends.'
Mr Luk Pak-luen (right), the father of the victim, and his lawyer leave the Hong Kong Legal Department after requesting a review of the sentences for his daughter's killers. Photo: SCMP Archives
On November 10, the couple 'had their jail sentences substantially increased by the Court of Appeal. The court agreed 8 ½ years and seven years imprisonment imposed [on Hon and Wong, respectively] were manifestly inadequate and increased them to 15 and 12 years.