Yip Kai-foon inquest finds Hong Kong prisoners should have access to Chinese medicine
Five jurors at Coroner’s Court find Yip, the city’s former ‘King of Thieves’, died of natural causes after suffering from cancer
Despite once terrorising Hong Kong as one of its most notorious criminals, “King of Thieves” Yip Kai-foon may have left a legacy of enhanced rights for his former fellow inmates.
His two-day inquest ended on Thursday, with a panel of jurors suggesting Chinese medicine be provided to prisoners as an alternative to the default Western approach.
It came a day after they heard Yip – once a fearsome, AK-47-wielding robber, but left wheelchair-bound and plagued by terminal cancer in his final days – was denied that option while serving his 41-year jail term. Yip had lodged a judicial review to demand such an option, but died on April 19, 2017, aged 55, before the court heard his case.
After two hours of deliberations on Thursday, the five jurors at the Coroner’s Court found Yip died of natural causes. He had suffered from terminal lung cancer that spread to his brain.
“[We] recommend prison hospitals consider providing Chinese medicine [for prisoners],” the foreman of the jury said, a conclusion from a day of testimony by doctors and jail officers summoned to court to retell the events leading up to Yip’s death.
Coroner Ko Wai-hung said he would pass on the recommendation to the Correctional Services Department. A spokesman from the department said it would study the recommendation, but had no further comment to make.
The conclusion of Yip’s inquest put to rest speculation over the death of the mainland Chinese immigrant turned gangster at Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam just two years before he was expected to be released on August 19, 2019.