A POLICEMAN was shot as he reached through the window of a hijacked taxi and wrapped his fingers around a gunman's throat, an inquest heard yesterday.
The wounded officer pulled away and fired five shots, hitting the hijacker three times.
Cheung Cho-yau, 23, and his handicapped Korean hostage, Kang Sang-bo, were killed in an Aberdeen gunbattle.
Shortly after the taxi was stopped at a police roadblock, Senior Inspector Cheung Chiu-ping opened fire into the back seat, where Kang sat with his captor, the inquest heard earlier. Kang, 31, and Cheung Cho-yau were dying when police dragged them from the taxi.
Constable Au Cheuk-yan testified yesterday that he had heard shooting before he reached the taxi. When he peered through the window of the vehicle, he saw the hostage slumped over, motionless, beside his captor.
'When I caught sight of this, the hijacker raised his pistol,' Constable Au said.