Hong Kong - An animal-obsessed Hong Kong teenager was Thursday beginning a life jail sentence for murdering a female kennel worker he believed was mistreating dogs.

Liu Pak-shing, 17, stabbed the 24-year-old Indonesian woman, whose name was given as Fitriani to death, telling police later that he did it because he disliked the way she treated dogs at the kennels.

Liu stabbed the woman nearly two dozen times before leaving her body on the front lawn of the kennels in Hong Kong's Sheung Shui district in January, a High Court hearing was told on Wednesday.

The teenager, a volunteer worker at the kennels, pleaded guilty to murder and was jailed for life with a recommendation that he serve at least 22 years before being considered for release.

Liu's barrister Graeme Mackay said the attack was triggered by his client's obsession with dogs. Liu came from a broken home and had relied on the affection of pets from an early age, he said.

Jailing Liu for life, judge Alan Wright said the killer had shown no remorse for the murder and posed a real danger to society because of his "psychopathic personality." (dpa)