Row continues as driver insists US photographer ‘scratched’ car bonnet during Occupy protests
A war of words continued yesterday between a US photographer and a car owner who accused her of criminal damage, after a court allowed the photographer to be bound over to keep the peace.
A war of words continued yesterday between a US photographer and a car owner who accused her of criminal damage, after a court allowed the photographer to be bound over to keep the peace.
Award-winning photojournalist Paula Bronstein said she never saw the 15cm scratch the car's bonnet allegedly sustained in October at the Occupy Central site in Mong Kok.
Earlier yesterday, prosecutors in Kwun Tong Court decided not to press charges against Bronstein for allegedly damaging the car, which belonged to financial analyst Tammie Tam.
Principal Magistrate Ernest Lin Kam-hung allowed Bronstein to be bound over with HK$2,000 for two years, meaning if she did not commit any crime in Hong Kong, she would not have to pay. The ruling came after the parties agreed undisclosed compensation and an apology.
Tam said when he was offered the compensation, he even wondered if it was perverting the course of justice.
Bronstein said her lawyer had told her Tam asked if he could spend the money on areas other than car repairs. "It was really telling," she said.
Tam said he was "disconcerted" by her comment, adding that he agreed to the bound-over order because she was willing to offer an apology letter.
He added that he had asked if he could hold the money for later use as he had lent his car to a friend.
It was Bronstein, 60, who first approached Tam about settling the matter outside court, he said. Bronstein, a Pulitzer Prize nominee who freelances for Getty Images, said: "It wasn't true."
Bronstein has been in Myanmar and Afghanistan since covering Occupy. She flew to Bangkok last night, but will return if the protests take a dramatic turn.
