Three police officers involved in the Kennedy Town shootout which led to Yip Kai-foon's arrest won an unusual commendation from a High Court judge yesterday.
Mr Justice Michael Stuart-Moore said: 'I wish to pay tribute to these three officers on behalf of the community.' The officers received one day of psychological counselling to cope with the knowledge they had shot at the territory's most wanted man last May. Yip was hit three times by police bullets and is now paralysed from the waist down.
Constable Chan Chi-sing, who was 19 at the time of the shootout and had only been in the force for three months, said he was still nervous even though the verdict had been delivered.
'It's hard to say if the counselling is useful or not . . . but after knowing he's Yip, I am a bit nervous. But I was not frightened when carrying out my duty,' said the young officer who fired his gun for the first time on duty during the gun battle with Yip.
Constable Chow Hau-leung, who hit Yip, said he was still excited about the arrest. 'If I had been less determined that time, the story may have been totally different. I felt excited and happy when commended by the judge. I think the verdict is reasonable. I have been waiting for today since Yip was arrested.' A third officer, Tam Kin-fung, who arrived to back up his colleagues, agreed that the verdict was reasonable.
'No matter how he twisted the facts, he could not escape justice in the end,' he said.
