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SCMP Reporter

'He called to win me back' - mother of policeman's child tells inquest of a row before officer was shot dead

Constable Leung Shing-yan  reconciled with his fiancee by telephone just five hours before he was killed while on duty in March 2001, the coroner's court heard yesterday.

The 24-year-old policeman had argued the previous night with Cheung Ling-chi in the Tai Po flat they had shared for a year, and called her in the morning to make up, Ms Cheung told the inquest.

Leung, described by family and friends as a 'filial and approachable' person who sometimes gambled, was shot dead in Tsuen Wan on March 14, 2001, as he went to investigate a noise complaint.

Ms Cheung, now 26 and a teacher at a primary school, said they had quarrelled because Leung had gone to sing karaoke without telling her.

'Our last conversation was at around 8am that morning, when he was on his way to work,' Ms Cheung said. 'He did sleep at our home the previous night, but we had an argument ... he called to win me back.'

She appeared calm when recalling events  that preceded her  fiance's death. Apart from Ms Cheung, Leung  is survived by their five-and-a-half-year-old son, with whom Ms Cheung was pregnant at the time he was killed.

The investigation into Leung's death  kicked off the high-profile joint inquest - scheduled to last  at least 37 days.

It will also deal with the deaths of off-duty constable Tsui Po-ko  and constable Tsang Kwok-hang,  who died in last year's Tsim Sha Tsui shoot-out, and of bank security guard Zafar Iqbal Khan,  shot dead during a robbery in December 2001.

The coroner also heard testimony that Leung owed tens of thousands of dollars to credit card companies and  HK$20,000 to HK$30,000 to the police credit union.

Ms Cheung said she knew Leung sometimes gambled on horses and played mahjong and they would argue when she discovered that he had  gambled.

But she insisted that they could make ends meet and it did not occur to her that Leung had bet on soccer games.

'He did play soccer. But as far as I know, he did not gamble on the sport,' she said. 'He did go to Macau occasionally. But I did not know what he did there.'

She said Leung did not know any of the three policemen involved in the Tsim Sha Tsui subway shoot-out on March 17 last year - Tsui, Tsang and Sin Ka-keung, the only survivor.

Leung's mother, Li Hang-tai, told coroner Michael Chan Pik-kiu  that Leung gave the family HK$4,000 each month even though he  earned only  HK$11,000 a month when he  joined the police force.

She said her late eldest son was cheerful and loved fishing and soccer but he did gamble sometimes.

'I knew that he gambled, but that was not too often. We would pool our bets together on horse racing too,' she said.

The coroner was told that Leung was found lying  on the fifth floor of Shek To House of Shek Wai Kok Estate at around 12.30pm.

His service revolver, ammunition and policeman's notepad were missing.

The inquest continues today.



Slain constable's last words to fiancee