A marine constable has been acquitted of intimidating and assaulting his girlfriend after she decided to join the police force because the judge doubted she had told the court the whole truth.
Judge Susana D'Almada Remedios, sitting in the District Court, did however convict Lau Chun-tat, 21, on one charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm for grabbing the neck of his 21-year-old girlfriend, Ho Mei-shan, during an argument on a Hung Hom street on September 28.
Lau had been accused of attacking and threatening to kill Ms Ho on three occasions between May and September last year after their relationship turned sour when Ms Ho told Lau on May 12 that she had applied to join the force.
Yesterday the judge said the pair had a very strange relationship which was 'highly emotional', with many break-ups and make-ups. Ruling to acquit Lau of five of the six charges he had pleaded not guilty to earlier, the judge said it was crucial to assess if Ms Ho had been a truthful witness.
'Her answers of, 'I cannot recall or recollect', is very detrimental to her evidence,' the judge said.
Lau, detained since his arrest on September 30, was released on bail. The judge ordered a probation order report and psychological report for sentencing in May.