'Make them suffer': Murder co-conspirator testifies in Ellerslie trial
A co-conspirator in an Auckland murder trial testified that he was coerced into the crime by his co-defendant due to threats against his family and financial debt. The witness described how his relationship with the defendant, initially based on shared religious ties, devolved into a murder plot.
Why it matters
This testimony provides critical insight into the psychological and financial manipulation tactics used in a high-profile homicide case.
Why would a man agree to kill a couple he'd never met? <b>By Finn Blackwell </b><a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/crime-and-justice/1310409/make-them-suffer-murder-co-conspirator-gives-evidence-in-ellerslie-homicide-trial"><b>of RNZ</b></a> That was what Crown prosecutors asked Shu Man Poon, who earlier pleaded guilty to the murders of an Auckland couple in 2023. His former co-defendant Lok Fung Lorrence Li was on trial in the High Court at Auckland, accused of <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/11/12/ellerslie-deaths-who-were-fuk-fu-joseph-kwok-and-mei-han-chong/">murdering Fuk-Fu Joseph Kwok and Mei Han Chong</a> in their Ellerslie home. He had also pleaded not guilty to conspiring to murder his former landlord with Poon. Poon earlier pleaded guilty to his role in the Kwok killings as well as the murder plot, and on Wednesday gave evidence against the man he said had pressured him to kill. He was asked by prosecutor Matthew Nathan why he would be involved in the murder of the Kwoks, two people he had never met before. After a long pause, Poon spoke.
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