A MAN fined for spitting at a policeman after he was searched on suspicion of carrying an offensive weapon had his name cleared yesterday. The High Court's Mr Justice Leong, on appeal, agreed that the trial magistrate had failed to take adequate consideration of medical evidence called by Chow Shing-chung to support his claim that he was assaulted by the police. Mr Chow, 27, had denied a charge of assaulting a police officer in the execution of his duty but was found guilty after trial by magistrate Paul Kelly. Mr Chow was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $2,000 costs. The incident occurred on the evening of April 2 when Mr Chow was outside a shopping centre in Aberdeen. He was intercepted by a team of patrolling police officers who were suspicious that he was carrying an offensive weapon. However, a search revealed that the bulge in his back trouser pocket was only a comic book. It was alleged that when he was asked what he was doing there, he used foul language and spat at a policeman twice on the chest in quick succession. Chow, in his defence, denied spitting at the officer, claiming that he was in fact assaulted by the police. He also produced two reports from two medical examinations, one made at 2 am on April 3 and a more detailed report made 12 hours later, indicating that he had a fractured rib. His counsel, Michael Ko, on appeal, submitted that the trial magistrate erred in finding that the two medical reports were inconsistent because the first did not contain details disclosed in the second. In fact, he said, there was nothing inconsistent in the reports. The first report was peripheral and the second report contained more details.
