On a chilling morning in October 1953, the quiet neighborhood of Pui Man Village in Kowloon City was stirred by a mysterious incident. On January 22, 1954, news sources detailed the account of Lam Bing-wing, a local hawker, who reported a perplexing sight he witnessed during the early hours of October 25.
Bing-wing, a resident of the village, narrated his unusual experience from that morning. At around 4 a.m., while the world was still enveloped in the quiet embrace of the night, he stepped outside his front door for reasons not mentioned. To his surprise, he spotted a man some 20 to 30 paces away, seemingly carrying a heavy load on his back that eerily resembled a human form.
This shadowy figure then proceeded towards a well, situated right in front of Bing-wing’s position. As he watched, the man appeared to dump the mysterious bundle into the well. The subsequent splash of water broke the silence, only to be followed by the man’s hurried footsteps as he retreated from the scene. Oddly enough, instead of investigating or raising an alarm, Bing-wing chose to return to his slumber, letting the strange incident drift into the back of his mind.
The plot took a more sinister turn when a woman named Chin Ah-choi, also known by the alias Chan Tak-yee, was later discovered lifeless in the very same well. The subsequent investigation led authorities to arrest Wong See-hoi, a 43-year-old resident of 5 Tin Hau Temple Street, Kowloon City, on suspicion of her murder.
The courtroom trial that followed was intense and closely followed by the public. The prosecution built its case on the notion that Wong had taken the life of his mistress, Ah-choi, who was identified as a sex worker. They believed he had partially strangled her in their shared living space.
However, when Wong took the stand in February 1954, he offered a different narrative. He fervently denied all allegations, presenting the argument that he had only quarreled with Ah-choi, attempting to persuade her to change her line of work. According to him, she had left their shared space after their dispute. His defense also raised doubts about the hawker’s testimony, suggesting the possibility that the early morning sighting was a mere figment of Bing-wing’s imagination.
In a dramatic turn of events, on February 27, 1954, after a grueling trial, a jury consisting of four men and three women delivered their verdict. Wong See-hoi was acquitted of all charges related to the murder of Chin Ah-choi. The air in the courtroom was thick with tension, relief, and unanswered questions that lingered, echoing the mysteries of that fateful October morning.
READ MORE: