Hong Kong magistrate slams police officer over wrongful allegation that student punched him
Magistrate urges case over wrongful charge be taken to complaints body
A magistrate yesterday berated a police officer for unprofessionally accusing a student of punching him in the mouth and demanded that follow-up action be taken against him.
Kowloon City Court magistrate Eric Cheung Kwan-ming lamented that not only was constable Lau Kam-wing, as a duty officer, failing to adhere to the need for accuracy in giving evidence, he also "took [the defendant] to court".
"This is not the conduct [he should have displayed]," he told the constable in a raised voice after acquitting student Ho Pak-hei, 17.
Lau accused Ho of hitting him in the mouth from the front when the constable was carrying out crowd-control duties in Argyle Street during a protest in Mong Kok on November 28 after the Occupy sit-in there had been cleared.
In his written statement, Lau claimed he witnessed Ho pulling his arm backwards in a catapulting action, before punching him.
But a video shot by defence witness Yeung Chui-ping, a retired woman, showed Ho had been behind Lau the whole time during the shooting of the footage.
Lau's reply, when cross-examined by Ho's counsel Steven Kwan, was that he was not a "human recorder" and could not remember the details.