Student who identified with ‘involuntary celibacy’ movement denies posting Discord messages threatening to murder

A student who identified with the “incel” – or “involuntary celibate” – community has denied a charge of sending messages threatening to murder others at his university, as his trial began on Wednesday.

Kwun Tong Magistrates’ Courts. Photo: GovHK.

Du Maosen, 22, appeared at the Kwun Tong Magistrates’ Courts for the first day of his trial over online posts he wrote on Discord last year. He has pleaded not guilty to one count of “sending letters threatening to murder.”

A mainland Chinese student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Du was arrested last year after police linked him to messages on Discord, a chat platform popular among video gamers.

When the trial began on Wednesday, the prosecution played clips of Du being interviewed by police following his arrest, local media reported. He told police he was a developer and moderator on a Discord channel that he made the posts in.

In the clip, the computer science and artificial intelligence student described the concept of “incel” as meaning involuntary celibate, which he said he related to. He said he remained single at the age of 20 and that it was women’s fault that he was unable to find a partner.

The logo for chat app Discord. Photo: appshunter.io/Unsplash.

He said he therefore planned that, on April 7 last year, he would carry a knife to an atrium in the university and stab 30 women, ensuring that 10 of them died because they “deserve to.” Imagining this helped him feel better, he said.

Du also said he would also stab 30 men as revenge, because no one was willing to be his friend or work with him on a video game he was developing.

He added, however, that this was an idea he had when he was feeling anxious, and that he did not actually take any action towards it. He denied buying or possessing any knives.

Typically associated with misogyny and hate speech, the incel movement involves men who are frustrated by their lack of romantic relationships with women. In North America, perpetrators of violent attacks – including one as recent as in May, involving a mosque shooting in California – have been linked to the ideology.

The two teens behind the shooting identified with the incel movement, an analysis found.

Murder research

In the interview, Du said he quit the Discord channel after announcing his plans, feeling that he had gone overboard.

Later, someone from the channel contacted him and told him not to carry out his plans. Du said he told the user he was feeling better and would not do so.

Hong Kong police emblem. Photo: Candice Chau/HKFP.

In a separate video clip played in court, Du told police that he had carried out research some of Hong Kong’s most notorious murders.

He looked up information on the Hello Kitty murder, Du said, referring to a gruesome 1999 case in which some of a woman’s remains were found in a Hello Kitty doll.

Imagining scenes of killing helped relieve his anxiety, the defendant told police.

The trial continued on Thursday.

Sending a letter threatening to murder is an offence punishable by a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment, but sentences handed down at the magistrate court are capped at two years for a single offence.