11-05-2025
When a teenager was stabbed to death with a fork … over an alleged stare
'A plastics factory worker, Chan Wai-tak, was stabbed to death and his friend seriously injured when they were attacked by a group of youths in
Wah Fu Estate, Aberdeen , last night,' reported the South China Morning Post on May 10, 1980. 'The injured youth, Lee Man-ching (18), told detectives from his
Queen Mary Hospital bed that he and Chan (15 ½), were standing near a building chatting when a group of youths passed by and accused the two of staring at them.
'A plastics factory worker, Chan Wai-tak, was stabbed to death and his friend seriously injured when they were attacked by a group of youths in Wah Fu Estate, Aberdeen, last night,' reported the South China Morning Post on May 10, 1980. Photo: SCMP Archives
'He said there was an exchange of words and then they were suddenly set upon by the group. The group fled after the attack and he and Chan ran to a nearby shopping centre for help. He said Chan collapsed in the corridor on the fifth floor of the shopping centre. Police have seized a bent barbecue fork believed to have been used in the attack on the two.'
Advertisement
On January 17, 1986, the Post followed up, writing that 'a theatre usher who was involved in a fight 5 ½ years ago which resulted in the death of a teenager was yesterday sentenced to 12 months in jail'.
Police officers investigating at a crime scene where Chan Wai-tak was stabbed to death and his friend Lee Man-ching seriously injured when they were attacked by a group of youths in Wah Fu Estate, Aberdeen. Photo: SCMP Archives
'Chan Kam-kei, 23, pleaded guilty before Mr Justice Barnes to one count of manslaughter and one of wounding with intent. He was sentenced to 12 months for killing Chan Wai-tak, 16, and three months for wounding Mr Li Man-ching, 18, on May 9, 1980. The sentences are to run concurrently. His counsel, Mr Andrew Macrae, submitted in mitigation that Chan came from a hard-working family. He was a man of good character marred with one minor offence of assault over a very trivial matter when he was only 19 […] Chan was now a hardworking and responsible young man and was no longer a member of a triad gang, he said.'
