A grisly murder trial in Hong Kong has left seasoned police horrified and trial officers stunned. "Henry" Chau Hoi-leung, 30, stands accused of luring his parents to his apartment and with the help of an accomplice, murdering them, dismembering the bodies, and then cooking the remains. 

Chau Wing-ki, 65, and Siu Yuet-yee, 62, went missing in March of 2013, and suspicion soon fell on their son. In preliminary arguments, the court heard how the parents, though loving, were no longer willing to fund the younger Chau's lavish lifestyle and demanded he get a job. Accusing his parents of abandonment, Chau moved out of the family home and severed ties. Chau initially told detectives his parents had gone on vacation to China, but when police searched his apartment two weeks after his parents' disappearance, they found bloodstains still on the floor, body parts in the freezer, the severed heads of the missing couple in the refrigerator below, and parts of a body that could not fit in the freezer salted and packed into lunch boxes with rice.

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Notes and receipts detailing careful planning of the murders, believed to have occurred on March 1st, were also discovered. On the same night, police found Chau had gone to a local hospital for wounds to his hands prosecutors now claim were the result of a fight between son and father. Prosecutors are seeking a charge of murder, alleging that Chau had planned the crime months in advance and enlisted the help of Tse Chun-kei, 36, to assist in buying carving knifes and large refrigerators to store the bodies. They also bought microwaves and a rice cooker. 

"Their crime was greatly premeditated," Michael Arthur, a lawyer for the prosecution, told reporters. "Their planning was extensive."

Pre-trial, the jury heard that Chau and Tse admitted to preventing the lawful burial of the elder Chau and Sui. Both deny the murder charge; Chau claims Tse not only carried out the killings, but also the dismemberment of the bodies. However, when police brought Chau in for questioning, the young man posted through social media a confession to the crime as well as a final good-bye to his friends before being sent to prison. In his defense, Chau told Hong Kong's Court of First Instance he suffered from diminished metal capacity having been emotionally abandoned by his parents, and therefore was not in his right mind during the time of the alleged murders. 

If convicted, Chau and Tse face life imprisonment. The trial is on-going and expected to last three months.

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