Tempo

-AN WHO KILLED MOM GETS YRS

He stored dismembere­d body parts in fridge

- By ASSOCIATED PRESS

A man who admitted to killing and dismemberi­ng his mother during an argument in their Honolulu apartment has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Yu Wei Gong was charged with murder after he called police in 2017 to turn himself in after a suicide attempt. He admitted killing his mother Liu Yun Gong about six months earlier, according to court documents. When officers asked where his mother was, he said “in the fridge.”

An officer searched the freezer and found human remains, including two arms with hands and a decapitate­d head, in numerous plastic trash bags, court documents said.

Last year, he pleaded guilty to manslaught­er, avoiding a life sentence. His defense attorney and the prosecutor in the case said it’s a deal the victim’s family supports.

Gong, 28, spent most of Monday’s sentencing looking down. He spoke quietly as he apologized to his family in China and Hawaii. “I am ashamed for what I did,” he said. “I’m sorry, Mom.”

Gong feels he doesn’t deserve the forgivenes­s his family has given him, said Darcia Forester, his public defender. “I want to make clear that he did love his mother and she was a very good mother,” she said. “Under no circumstan­ces did she deserve what happened.”

Judge Paul Wong noted the “obviously sensationa­l facts” in the case, even though there was no mention of the gory details.

Wong sentenced Gong to 20 years for manslaught­er and 10 years for identity theft, to be served separately. A one-year sentence for abuse of a corpse is to be served at the same time. Gong will receive credit for time he’s already served.

The identity theft charge stems from Gong paying rent with his mom’s checking account.

A parole board will determine the minimum number of years Gong must serve.

 ?? (AP) ?? GONG Yu Wei, left, who admitted to killing and dismemberi­ng his mother Gong Liu Yun, right, during an argument in their Honolulu apartment, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
(AP) GONG Yu Wei, left, who admitted to killing and dismemberi­ng his mother Gong Liu Yun, right, during an argument in their Honolulu apartment, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Philippines