The Hello Kitty cat case is one of the most haunting murders in the history of Hong Kong (China), when the victim was almost forgotten without the nightmares of a 14-year-old girl.
Horrifying nightmare
Theo All that interesting, in May 1999, a 14-year-old girl named A Phuong (identity changed) went to social workers to talk about insomnia. Every time she closes her eyes, A Phuong has nightmares, seeing the image of a woman being tortured by herself and a few others.
Initially, social workers thought that A Phuong wanted attention or had hallucinations due to the use of stimulants. But when they talked more closely, they were forced to contact the police to confirm the story. Despite her suspicions, the police accompanied her to the apartment complex on Granville Street.
Here, they discovered a stuffed Hello Kitty cat covered in blood in an apartment on the 3rd floor. After examining the scene, forensic officers found a skull in the head of the stuffed cat. Because the part of the skull was affected by the heat, police were unable to conduct a DNA test to identify the victim.
However, through A Phuong’s testimony and clues in the apartment, the victim was identified as Phan Man Nghi – a prostitute working at a nightclub.
The tragic life of the victim
Fan Min Nghi was abandoned at a young age and had to live in a social protection facility. When she was a teenager, she became addicted to drugs and worked as a prostitute for a living.
Life seemed to have become better when Ms. Phan became the manager of a nightclub. In 1996, she got married and gave birth to a son. However, this marriage quickly fell apart when her husband became addicted to drugs and began to abuse her.
In 1997, Phan Man Nghi met Tran Van Nhac – a pimp and drug lord in the area. Two years later, she stole more than 4,000 HKD from this guy to pay for her grandmother’s medical treatment. When he discovered the incident, Tran Van Nhac sent his juniors Luong Tinh To and Luong Vi Luan to arrest her to sell sex to pay the debt.
During the arrest, the pimp and his accomplices often used violent tricks to torture the victim. The inhumans poured boiling oil into her mouth, applied chili oil to the wound, and forced her to swallow feces and urine. After many days of torture, the poor woman was left lying in one place.
According to A Phuong, she was the “girlfriend” of the pimp, so she participated in the torture of Ms. Phan. On April 15, 1999, this group of people went out and locked Ms. Phan in the bathroom. When they returned, they found her dead after more than a month of torment.
Painful death and controversial judgment
In order to erase all traces of Ms. Phan’s death, these guys split the victim’s body into pieces. Part of the body was thrown into the landfill, a part was cooked and hidden in the refrigerator, and the head was stuffed into a stuffed cat and sewn up.
Because he was only 14 years old and gave testimony against Tran Van Nhac and his accomplices, A Phuong was not criminally prosecuted. However, Hong Kong police could not conclude the cause of Ms. Phan’s death because of a lack of body parts. This is the reason why the pimp and his juniors were not charged with murder, but only charged with manslaughter.
Viet Dung