A prisoner jailed after eating a pet tortoise is suing the Commissioner for Correctional Services for $50,000 over an alleged beating by fellow inmates.
Chau Chao-ping, 23, was jailed for 15 months in March last year after breaking into a New Territories home, where he cooked and ate a pet tortoise valued at $1,000.
In his writ, he accuses prison officers of failing to rescue him at the Correctional Services-run Shum Wan laundry at Wong Cheuk Hang, Hong Kong Island, on July 19.
The inmate was having a nap after work when two Vietnamese prisoners hit him eight or nine times with a large piece of wood, he claims.
He says no officer helped him and he had to run for assistance while 'bleeding all over the body'.
He was taken to Queen Mary Hospital for treatment and stitches to a head wound.