Chinese government 'needed a confession', suspect in journalist Kevin Lau's attack tells court
Confession forced by mainland police, suspected knifeman tells court of attack on journalist Kevin Lau
One of two men who allegedly attacked a Hong Kong journalist with a knife last year told the High Court yesterday that public security officers on the mainland forced him to admit to the crime because the central government urgently needed a confession from somebody.
Wong Chi-wah claimed officers arrested him and his friend, Yip Kim-wah, in Guangdong on March 8 last year and held them at a detention centre.
Wong said officers told him: "The central government is very serious about the case. It must have someone admitting to it."
The two men, both 38, each deny one count of causing grievous bodily harm and stealing a motorcycle during the alleged assault on former Ming Pao chief editor Kevin Lau Chun-to on February 26 last year. Yip also pleaded not guilty to a charge of stealing a vehicle licence.
Wong said he was having breakfast in Kowloon City when Lau was brutally slashed by a knife-wielding assailant on Tai Hong Street in Sai Wan Ho. Lau suffered serious wounds to his legs and back.
Ten days later, when a group of plainclothes officers apprehended Wong and Yip, Wong had thought they were robbers when they first approached, he said.
The officers pushed him to the ground and one stepped on his head. They used his belt to tie him up, and put him in a car, he said.