Former University of Hong Kong (HKU) professor Cheung Kie-chung, who was sentenced to life behind bars for murdering his wife in 2018, has sought to challenge his conviction. But the hearing was postponed to next month because his lawyer was sick.
The ex-associate professor on Thursday filed an application for leave to appeal against his conviction in 2020, when a High Court jury in a majority verdict found him guilty of murdering his wife Tina Chan Wai-man.
According to local media, Cheung intended to argue that the judge had misdirected the jury by failing to give sufficient consideration to his mental state. Three Court of Appeal judges adjourned the case to February 2, after Cheung’s representative – Senior Counsel Graham Harris – was unable to attend Thursday’s proceedings due to sickness.
Cheung, who was a scholar at HKU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, denied murder but admitted manslaughter, but his plea was rejected by the prosecution. He pleaded guilty to one count of preventing a lawful burial.
Local media reported at the time that Cheung strangled his wife with a cable at their home inside the university. He placed her body in a suitcase before taking it to his office on campus.
Harris, who also defended Cheung during the trial, had argued that the academic was not a violent individual and had suffered psychological abuse by his wife for years.
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