Prison officers convicted of beating inmate claim court case was unfair

Three prison officers convicted of assaulting a Taiwanese detainee who died the following day claimed at their appeal yesterday that their original trial was unfair because it did not hear their side of the story.

Leung Shing-chi, 47, So Ka-wai, 37, and Tang Yuk-po, 46, are asking the Court of Appeal to quash their conviction for inflicting serious bodily harm on Chen Chu-nan. The three, jailed for 16 months by the District Court in September, were released on bail in December, pending their appeal.

Chen, 33, was found dead at Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre in August 2009, with 117 bruises and wounds to his head and body.

The three claim their former counsel, Oliver Davies, advised them not to testify on the grounds that he had found discrepancies in the prosecution case and he saw no reason why the three should "fill in the gaps".

"I believed in my lawyer and I did not ask him the advantages and disadvantages of giving evidence. It did not come to mind," So told the court yesterday.

But Davies told the court he felt the three would not perform well at a trial and advised them against giving evidence in case they incriminated themselves.