Appeals court overturns murder conviction of man who killed girlfriend, orders retrial

A Hong Kong appellate court has quashed the murder conviction of a jobless man who allegedly beat his girlfriend to death and hid her body under a mattress seven years ago, ruling that the trial judge had not properly directed the jury to fully consider the alleged perpetrator’s violent personality traits.The Court of Appeal on Thursday ruled in favour of Law Wai-man, who was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend Lau Lee-chi in 2019, overturning his conviction and ordering a retrial.Law, now in his mid-50s, argued in the 2022 High Court trial that he was provoked into beating his then 34-year-old girlfriend after the two had been quarrelling for a few days in 2019. Lau was found dead in a public housing flat in Tseung Kwan O on or around March 17, 2019.