Hong Kong protests: youth shot in abdomen by police in 2019 unrest found guilty of 3 charges, including trying to steal officer’s handgun
- Patrick Chow, 23, accused of trying to snatch policeman’s .38 revolver while the officer was grappling with an unidentified protester
- Judge says officer’s safety was ‘severely threatened’ and use of weapon was ‘completely reasonable’
Delivering her verdict on Monday, District Court Judge Adriana Noelle Tse Ching said it was “completely reasonable” for the officer to use his gun on Patrick Chow Pak-kwan, then a 21-year-old student at a vocational education institute.
“[The police officer’s] safety was severely threatened,” Tse told the court.
Chow, now 23, was remanded in custody along with co-accused Woo Tsz-kin, 22, ahead of mitigation and sentencing on October 10. The pair, friends from secondary school, were both convicted of robbery and wilfully obstructing a police officer.
Chow was also found guilty of an additional charge of attempting to escape from lawful custody. He waved goodbye to family and friends in court as he was led away. Among those present was Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, the retired Catholic bishop of Hong Kong.
Protesters had hoped to force the government to accede to their demands and had that day staged a strike that caused extensive traffic chaos across parts of the city.
In Sai Wan Ho, Chow, who was unarmed, tried to grab a policeman’s .38 revolver while the officer was grappling with an unidentified protester. Chow was shot in the abdomen, and later had a kidney and part of his liver removed.
The policeman, identified only as “officer A” in court, fired three rounds and had testified that “his life was at risk” when protesters surrounded him and tried to snatch his gun.
07:30
China’s Rebel City: The Hong Kong Protests
On Monday, the judge described the officer as a reliable witness, saying it was “too demanding” to ask him to recall every detail of the shooting as the trial took place two years later.
Tse said it could be inferred from the protesters’ moves to either approach the officer or make provocative gestures in front of him that they intended to prevent him from leaving the scene.
With the officer in imminent danger, it was “impractical” for him to use his baton or pepper spray to ward off the protesters, the judge said.
She said serious injuries could be a possible outcome if the accused had provoked others and the situation had got “out of control”.
Tse, disagreeing with the defence’s suggestion that Chow had only waved the officer’s gun, said his actions could have placed the policeman in a dangerous position if he had lost his weapon.
She said the defendants had intentionally obstructed the officer while he was clearing obstacles on the road and restoring traffic.
In a Facebook post on Sunday ahead of the verdict, Chow, a former student of the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education, said he had mixed feelings and had planned for the worst while preparing for the best.
“I can only hope my body will be able to cope with unpleasant situations in the future,” he wrote.
In previous posts over the past few months, Chow said he had suffered rapid weight loss, wound pain and loss of appetite, and had received hospital treatment in July.
Robbery is punishable by a maximum sentence of life imprisonment but is capped at seven years at the District Court. The two other charges carry a maximum of two years’ jail.
