Coroner says another witness may be necessary to resolve timeline discrepancies in inquest into Hong Kong protester’s death

Police officers testifying in the inquest acknowledge the potential for inaccuracies in the times they gave for various actions

Coroner Ko Wai-hung says court may need to hear evidence from the police officer responsible for timing others’ actions that night

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Constable Yim Cheuk-fan (front) and Constable Fong Chun-kwok appear at West Kowloon Court on Thursday. Photo: Brian Wong

Published: 10:01pm, 19 Nov 2020Updated: 11:22pm, 19 Nov 2020

Another witness may be needed to offer clarity on the timeline of a Hong Kong police operation after officers gave “obviously wrong” accounts in their testimony at an inquest into the death of a university student during last year’s protests, a coroner has said.

The Coroner’s Court has heard conflicting evidence as to the time of various events during the police clearance operation in Tseung Kwan O in the early hours of November 4, 2019 – around the time when 22-year-old Alex Chow Tsz-lok sustained serious head injuries after falling from a height inside a multistorey car park near a protest site. He later died in hospital.

Police had fired five tear gas rounds from an adjacent street into the car park of Sheung Tak Estate – where anti-government protesters had gathered – with at least one round entering the upper floors of the structure in which an unconscious Chow was later found, the court was told on Thursday.

It remains unclear whether Chow’s apparent accident was related to the police operation, as CCTV footage did not fully capture his fall or the events preceding it.

Constable Yim Cheuk-fan, who was an acting sergeant last year, said he shot a round of tear gas at the second floor of the car park at 1.09am in an attempt to disperse more than 10 radical protesters inside the building who had hurled traffic cones and other hard objects at officers.

News footage by i-Cable TV, however, showed the time of that shot as being 1am. At about that time, Chow was spotted by CCTV cameras at the other end of the car park.

Asked about the nine-minute difference, Yim said he had only learned of the time of his shot from the commanding officer after the operation was over.

The commanding officer would determine the chronology of events in a debriefing session, based on information provided to him by another officer responsible for recording action times during an operation, he said.