New Hong Kong police chief says suspects have rights as he is drawn into row over identity parade
New commissioner drawn into row over identity parade in case involving attack on TVB reporter
Hong Kong's new police chief yesterday said suspects' rights should be respected as it emerged that Occupy opponents arrested for allegedly assaulting a TVB reporter last year were allowed to wear shower caps and masks at two identity parades.
Speaking on his first day on the job, Stephen Lo Wai-chung also listed cybercrime and terrorism as two priorities although he said there was no intelligence indicating the city faced any imminent terrorist threat.
But Lo faced questions on the force's decision to scrap an investigation into an October 25 attack on a TVB reporter whose tie was yanked while covering a pro-police rally in Tsim Sha Tsui.
A Chinese-language newspaper yesterday reported that the male reporter was asked to identify the suspect from a group of seven or eight people who all wore shower caps and masks, and to identify another suspect from a group where everyone wore shower caps.
None of the three suspects wore a mask or cap when the alleged assault took place.
The report said the arrangement was agreed after the chief inspector in charge of the parade granted the demands of two of the three suspects that they needed to cover easily recognisable facial features. None wore masks in the ID parade for the last suspect.
The reporter's complaint about the arrangement went unheeded, the story said, and the inspector explained that it was allowed to "protect suspect's facial features".