Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Handyman
No more calls from John Fang, but there was some interesting testimony today by the fix-it guy who "discovered" Annie's bones. I had no room to add that much of his testimony consisted of "I don't remember," and "no" -- though when his memory was refreshed with earlier statements he gave police he grudgingly agreed that those were ''probably'' what he'd told them. And although he took five others to clean the filthy place, the only "cleaning" materials they brought were work gloves and jumbo trash bags...
The man who reported Annie Pang's skeletal remains to police a day after her former lover John Fang had been to same Yau Ma Tei flat and claimed to notice nothing amiss was heavily in debt to Fang at the time, the non-criminal coroner's inquest investigating Pang's death heard.
Yeung Kwai-choi, a former employee whom Fang earlier described as a ``jack of all trades, a handy man who was unluckily available to clean out the flat,'' admitted Tuesday under questioning by coroner's officer Dee Crebbin that Fang had filed a HK$2.5 million writ against him and that he had once borrowed HK$900,000 from Fang.
``After you went to the premises [Fang] didn't pursue the claim against you,'' Crebbin said.
``Yes,'' Yeung replied, but added ``the writ is still there.''
``He's never pursued it,'' Crebbin said.
``I did repay him,'' Yeung said.
``HK$2.5 million?''
``No,'' Yeung said without elaborating.
``Did [Fang] ask you to clean out the flat and to find the skeleton in exchange for not pursuing the writ?'' Crebbin asked.
``Not at all,'' said Yeung, who maintained he had taken up that task and others involving Pang when she was alive for free after he had left employment at Fang's former law firm in 1992.
Pang is believed to have died in the Waterloo Road apartment in July or August 1995 and her decapitated skeletal remains were reported by Yeung on October 7, 1999, a day after Fang said he and a locksmith entered the chaotic, grimy flat which Fang owned but claimed never to have entered until that day.
``You were prepared to do any jobs he wanted free of charge?'' Crebbin asked.
Yeung agreed, and called the task for which he took five other men whom he said also agreed to work for free, ``too trivial.''
Yeung said Fang had told them they could have electrical appliances and a television in the flat.
In describing his discovery, Yeung said he was ``shocked'' after peering into Pang's bedroom and seeing bones on the floor beside the bed. He said he called Fang who told him to notify the police.
Fang's fix-it man also said he had no idea and that Fang didn't bother to mention that the remains Yeung found might be those of Pang, whom he intially met in 1991 or 1992 when Fang sent him to check out a suicide threat she had made.
At the time Pang was living in a Sai Kung Spanish-style villa provided by Fang, though he rarely saw her there after beginning their relationship in the 1980s.
Yeung said Fang was ``too busy'' to deal with a lover who had cut her right wrist with a fruit knife and was sitting nude on her bed letting the blood drip into a glass when Yeung arrived.
``Had you ever been asked to do this sort of dirty work for him before?'' Crebbin asked.
``No,'' Yeung said.
Fang, who had described Yeung as the man he exclusively used to ``entice [Pang] to be a good girl'' when she was ``being mischevious,'' tapped him due to familial connections Yeung had in Sai Kung. Pang's neighbors reportedly called Yeung and Fang with complaints about her erratic behavior, including drug use, swimming nude and cutting other people's flower gardens.
Yeung also described himself and ``colleagues'' he had called from Sai Kung trying to calm Pang in a conference room at Fang's behest in Fang's law office in Central where she had torn wallpaper and damaged pictures. He claimed she scratched him and threw a heavy ashtray at him in the row which eventually ended in the Waterfront police station.
No more calls from John Fang, but there was some interesting testimony today by the fix-it guy who "discovered" Annie's bones. I had no room to add that much of his testimony consisted of "I don't remember," and "no" -- though when his memory was refreshed with earlier statements he gave police he grudgingly agreed that those were ''probably'' what he'd told them. And although he took five others to clean the filthy place, the only "cleaning" materials they brought were work gloves and jumbo trash bags...The man who reported Annie Pang's skeletal remains to police a day after her former lover John Fang had been to same Yau Ma Tei flat and claimed to notice nothing amiss was heavily in debt to Fang at the time, the non-criminal coroner's inquest investigating Pang's death heard.
Yeung Kwai-choi, a former employee whom Fang earlier described as a ``jack of all trades, a handy man who was unluckily available to clean out the flat,'' admitted Tuesday under questioning by coroner's officer Dee Crebbin that Fang had filed a HK$2.5 million writ against him and that he had once borrowed HK$900,000 from Fang.
``After you went to the premises [Fang] didn't pursue the claim against you,'' Crebbin said.
``Yes,'' Yeung replied, but added ``the writ is still there.''
``He's never pursued it,'' Crebbin said.
``I did repay him,'' Yeung said.
``HK$2.5 million?''
``No,'' Yeung said without elaborating.
``Did [Fang] ask you to clean out the flat and to find the skeleton in exchange for not pursuing the writ?'' Crebbin asked.
``Not at all,'' said Yeung, who maintained he had taken up that task and others involving Pang when she was alive for free after he had left employment at Fang's former law firm in 1992.
Pang is believed to have died in the Waterloo Road apartment in July or August 1995 and her decapitated skeletal remains were reported by Yeung on October 7, 1999, a day after Fang said he and a locksmith entered the chaotic, grimy flat which Fang owned but claimed never to have entered until that day.
``You were prepared to do any jobs he wanted free of charge?'' Crebbin asked.
Yeung agreed, and called the task for which he took five other men whom he said also agreed to work for free, ``too trivial.''
Yeung said Fang had told them they could have electrical appliances and a television in the flat.
In describing his discovery, Yeung said he was ``shocked'' after peering into Pang's bedroom and seeing bones on the floor beside the bed. He said he called Fang who told him to notify the police.
Fang's fix-it man also said he had no idea and that Fang didn't bother to mention that the remains Yeung found might be those of Pang, whom he intially met in 1991 or 1992 when Fang sent him to check out a suicide threat she had made.
At the time Pang was living in a Sai Kung Spanish-style villa provided by Fang, though he rarely saw her there after beginning their relationship in the 1980s.
Yeung said Fang was ``too busy'' to deal with a lover who had cut her right wrist with a fruit knife and was sitting nude on her bed letting the blood drip into a glass when Yeung arrived.
``Had you ever been asked to do this sort of dirty work for him before?'' Crebbin asked.
``No,'' Yeung said.
Fang, who had described Yeung as the man he exclusively used to ``entice [Pang] to be a good girl'' when she was ``being mischevious,'' tapped him due to familial connections Yeung had in Sai Kung. Pang's neighbors reportedly called Yeung and Fang with complaints about her erratic behavior, including drug use, swimming nude and cutting other people's flower gardens.
Yeung also described himself and ``colleagues'' he had called from Sai Kung trying to calm Pang in a conference room at Fang's behest in Fang's law office in Central where she had torn wallpaper and damaged pictures. He claimed she scratched him and threw a heavy ashtray at him in the row which eventually ended in the Waterfront police station.
# posted by Justin @ 4:08 AM 
