Hong Kong couple's quest for justice for wrongly accused teenage Occupy protester
Retired couple prove wrongly accused student protester innocent thanks to being in the right time at the right place, several times over
A retired couple's mission to prove 17-year-old student Ho Pak-hei innocent of assaulting a police officer during the Occupy protests was set in motion by a series of chance events.
First of all, of course, was the fact that Yeung Chui-ping and her husband Helbert Lau had been at the scene and had captured on video the incident that led to Ho's arrest on November 28 in Mong Kok.
They also knew who he was: Ho had followed the protesters' protocol of shouting out his name as he was taken away by officers.
The couple said they had gone to the protest that night as they wanted to witness first-hand the goings-on, rather than read about it in the news or watch it on the television.
The couple later spoke of Ho to a friend when they voiced their concerns about whether those arrested in the protests were getting proper assistance from the volunteer lawyers.
That might have been the end of the story, with the teenager's claims of innocence having to be duly weighed against the word of constable Lau Kam-wing in court.
Only, that friend of Yeung and Helbert Lau later picked up a newspaper as he boarded a Shanghai-bound flight and read a small article about a student accused of punching a police officer in the mouth. The student's name: Ho Pak-hei.
On landing, he contacted his friends with this information.
The couple, from Tuen Mun, realised they had in their hands proof of Ho's innocence.
In their video, Ho is behind the constable throughout the incident and does not throw any punches, let alone from front-on as Lau Kam-wing told the court. No punch is seen in the video.
After the call from their friend, the retirees, who used to run a factory, headed to Kowloon City Court in a bid to ensure justice for Ho. However, the court office told them they could not give out any of the student's details despite their reasons. Staff gave no lawyer's name either, revealing only the date of Ho's next court appearance.
The couple duly returned to court on that date and managed to inform Ho and his family that they had the key to his acquittal.
Yeung, who was the one who had actually filmed the incident, testified in defence of Ho last week, and the couple were back in court again yesterday to hear the verdict delivered.
Her husband, who is in his sixties, said after the verdict: "I am very happy. It shows that Hong Kong has a fair judicial system." He added: "We just wanted to exercise our civil responsibilities."
But Helbert Lau believed the happy ending was only part of the story - the case proved there was some truth in the allegations of abuse of power by police and he called for a review of the issue.
His wife, who is in her fifties, voiced concerns about some of the negative comments made on social media following her testimony. "Does that mean there aren't enough people who are willing to do the same thing?" Yeung asked.
The couple hoped they had inspired more people to come forward "to tell the truth".
Yeung said Ho's parents had thanked them for speaking out for their son. "What could worry a mother more than the possibility of her son being sentenced to jail?" she added.
