Police hold man, 46, over acid attacks at Café de Coral restaurants
Police have arrested a man suspected to have splashed corrosive acid on staff and customers, including a four-year-old boy, at two Café de Coral restaurants during lunchtime yesterday.
Police have arrested a man suspected to have splashed corrosive acid on staff and customers, including a four-year-old boy, at two Café de Coral restaurants during lunchtime yesterday.
The man, 46, described as 1.65 metres tall and carrying a pink backpack, entered a restaurant on Tai Yau Street in San Po Kong at about 1pm and splashed a bottle of acid on the people inside.
"He splashed a bottle of corrosive acid at the food counter, hurting staff and customers there," said Jim Chim Tak-ming, assistant district commander for crime in Wong Tai Sin.
He then appeared at a restaurant in the Tsz Wan Shan shopping centre and carried out a similar attack.
"Staff said they do not know [the attacker], nor was he a former staff member. No arguments took place beforehand," Chim said.
Eight people, aged four to 57, were injured, mostly on their faces, arms and necks. Two of them were male and other six were female.
Six of those who were injured in the attack worked at the restaurants and the remaining two were customers.
By last night, six of the injured, including the four-year-old boy, had been discharged from Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Yau Ma Tei.
After the second attack, restaurant staff chased the attacker to the nearby Tsz Ching Estate, where he eluded them.
Officers armed with shields, batons and helmets searched the vicinity and the suspect was arrested at around 5pm near Ching Tai House in Tsz Ching Estate, where he lived.
The unemployed man lived on his own and had no record of mental illness, police said.
"We mobilised some of our colleagues in the area … We saw someone who looked like him and we arrested him," Chim said. "Initial investigation shows that he has not worked at Café de Coral."
A Café de Coral spokesman said the company would offer assistance to affected employees, customers and their family members. The company would also cooperate fully with the police investigation, he added.
In September, a 13-year-old girl suffered acid burns to her legs and arms after she was attacked while walking to school in Shek Kip Mei.
The Primary Six pupil was injured when a glass bottle containing acid was thrown at her on Tong Yam Street. She suffered minor burns and was discharged from hospital after treatment.
That incident was the second acid attack that week, after a man poured acid on a woman as she ate at a McDonald's outlet with her mother and seven-year-old son. The woman suffered minor burns.
