Elderly parents allegedly dismembered, salted and cooked by their own son

The couple’s son Henry Chau Hoi-leung, 30, pleaded not guilty to the murders, the Court of First Instance heard yesterday.

According to prosecutor Michael Arthur, Henry Chau and his friend Tse Chun-kei, 36,had planned the murders for months and had bought knives, refrigerators, microwave ovens and a rice cooker, the daily reported.

The heads and organs of Chau Wing-ki, 65, and his wife Siu Yuet-yee, 62, were found in two refrigerators on March 15, while their dismembered boxes were salted and packed into lunchboxes.

They were murdered on March 1 last year.

Chau Wing-ki and Siu were last seen alive on March 1, on a CCTV, entering a building in Tai Kok Tsui with Henry Chau.

According to the prosecutor, Henry Chau left the building alone about 20 minutes later.

He went to a hospital to seek treatment for some cut wounds on his hands, which the prosecution said he sustained while struggling with his father, the daily reported.

The court was told that Henry Chau told the police three days later that his parents were missing after claiming that they had gone to the mainland "to have fun".

“But at the same time, Henry Chau was sending WhatsApp messages from inside the police station to a friend in which he confessed that he had killed his parents and needed more time to say a final goodbye to his friends before serving life in prison, the prosecution said,” the daily reported.

After arresting the duo on March 15, the police searched of the flat at 38 Fuk Chak Street in Tai Kok Tsui and found the dismembered bodies.

The daily said the police had also found notes and receipts that suggested the pair had started planning the killings in November 2012.

After the arrest, Henry Chau told the police that he had killed his parents as he could no longer connect to them emotionally.

In admitting the murders, he said it was Tse who dismembered the bodies. He said Tse had also salted some of the remians and placed them in boxes as he claimed the fridges were not big enough.

“Another method he alleged Tse had used was to cook the remains of the bodies. He claimed Tse looked at it as "chopping barbecued pork", before packing the remains in rice boxes along with some rice and disposing of them in a rubbish bin,” the daily said.

Tse, however, denied any part in the killings. He said in a video interview with the police that Henry Chau had showed him a box with a human hand and other body parts. He was then warned that after seeing the box and body parts, that it would be hard for Tse to convince people that he had not helped dismember the bodies.