Hong Kong protests: man who bit off the tip of a police officer’s finger found guilty of four charges
- The bite, which also fractured what remained of the digit, took place as the officer was attempting to restrain the defendant during a chaotic protest at a Sha Tin mall
- In his verdict, the judge rejected testimony from a defence witness that the bite could have been a reflexive response to the officer poking the defendant in the eye
To Kai-wa was also convicted at West Kowloon Court on Wednesday of disorderly conduct and the assault of two other officers during the demonstration at New Town Plaza on July 14, 2019, with the presiding District Court judge dismissing defence lawyers’ arguments regarding technical flaws in the prosecution’s case.
The 24-year-old employee at Kenneth Lam Solicitors stood accused of intentionally wounding Detective Sergeant Keith Leung Kai-yip by tearing off the tip of his right ring finger and fracturing what was left of the digit as hundreds of people gathered in the shopping centre that night – some of them attacking police officers – following major protests in Sha Tin earlier that day.
During the trial at the District Court last year, Leung had testified that he was attempting to restrain To by manipulating certain pressure points on his head, but accidentally put his finger in the protester’s mouth during the violent struggle.
A neurologist for the prosecution concluded at the time that the subsequent bite was voluntary, while another one hired by the defence argued it could have been a spontaneous response to shock or pain – specifically, the sergeant using his right index finger to poke To in the eye.
In his verdict, District Judge Johnny Chan Jong-herng accepted the prosecution expert’s opinion that a reflexive movement of the jaw was merely a “fanciful possibility”, and had never been documented by medical journals.