A 25-year-old Hong Kong man fatally beat his 30-year-old girlfriend while enforcing a ‘dry sister’ sleep-deprivation weight-loss regimen; sentenced to 3 years 9 months.

Social Context

Hong Kong’s Crimes Ordinance prosecutes coercive control as assault—even under pseudoscientific pretexts. This case accelerated implementation of the city’s ‘Coercive Control Recognition Protocol’, training frontline officers to identify disguised abuse masked as wellness regimes.

Safety Tip

Report any partner-imposed extreme regimens—especially sleep restriction or isolation—as potential coercive control, which is criminalized under Hong Kong law.