A 28-year-old Hong Kong man has been charged with manslaughter and 12 other offences over allegedly drugging six men and killing one at a hotel last year.
Au Chi-ken, a marketing officer, appeared at the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday. The prosecution laid the manslaughter charge alongside 12 other counts, and sought to take the case to the High Court for trial before a jury.
According to the charge sheet, Au stands accused of killing a man, identified as C, whom he drugged at the Best Western Plus Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui on March 14 last year.
Au was alleged to have given the man date-rape drugs and an anti-impotence drug before stealing the man’s mobile phone.
He allegedly drugged five other men in three different hotels in Kowloon between March 7 and 15 last year.
The charge sheet alleged Au had also raped two of them while they were on drugs.
Separately, Au was accused of stealing four mobile phones, a pair of earphones, a watch, a ring, and RMB4,000 and HK$1,200 from the other three men.
Police arrested Au on March 16 last year after receiving reports that a 25-year-old man had been found unconscious in a hotel room in Tsim Sha Shui. The man was later certified dead at scene.
Au was initially charged with “using drugs to obtain or facilitate unlawful sexual act,” on March 20, and has been remanded in custody since.
After investigation, the manslaughter charge was added on Wednesday. Au also faces one count of “using noxious thing with intent to injure,” two counts of “using drugs to obtain or facilitate unlawful sexual act,” two counts of “non-consensual buggery,” three counts of “using substance in order to commit an indictable offence,” and four counts of theft, according to a police statement.
Au did not apply for bail during Thursday’s hearing. The case will be heard again at Eastern Magistrates’ Courts next month.
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