The Trial

In the presence of the victims’ families the jury heard how both Charles Ng and his older accomplice Leonard Lake had abducted, raped, tortured and eventually murdered up to 25 people including two babies. Ironically Lake’s own diary confessional was rendered inadmissible by the judge, but other items such as the incriminating videos showing victims tied up and taunted played their part in finding Ng guilty of murdering six men, three women and two babies.All along Ng's attorneys insisted that he had been an ‘unwilling’ accomplice who had not taken part in any killings, but had participated in some of the sexual assaults. This ploy did not wash with the jury which also took into account the fact that while in custody Ng had drawn cartoons depicting various murders with incriminating detail. He had also written a motto on his cell wall which read: ‘No kill, no thrill – no gun, no fun’.Ng was sentenced to life imprisonment and is currently on death row at San Quentin prison, California, but even this has not stopped his attorneys for presenting appeals against the ‘harshness of the sentence’.The court proceedings had taken a grand total of thirteen years and cost taxpayers twenty million dollars to convict one man who had an incredible amount of incriminating evidence stacked against him, including video tape footage showing him as a cruel, sadistic gaoler of several murdered victims.