A burglar has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a security guard during a break-in at a Hong Kong restaurant more than five years ago.
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Wong Shun-lam, 33, was sentenced in the High Court on Friday after standing trial earlier this month for intentionally killing Chan Chun-tai at the Dragon King Restaurant in Kwun Tong, where he once worked as a cook.
The trial heard Wong, a jobless father of three, targeted the premises at Yen Sheng Centre hoping to get enough cash to repay HK$40,000 (US$5,100) he borrowed from loan sharks.
He first stole HK$1,000 from a drawer at the cashier on the evening of December 10, 2019, but was forced to leave after triggering an alarm.
Feeling unsatisfied, the defendant duped Chan, who was watching the building’s car park entrance, into letting him in during the early hours of the next day by telling the guard the restaurant had been raided.
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Wong led Chan to the restaurant and showed him a supposedly locked door being pried open, before attacking the deceased from behind just as the guard was about to tell his colleagues about the situation.