University students cleared of involvement in egg-and-starch attack on Hong Kong campus security checkpoint
- Magistrate rules students Owen Au Cheuk-hei and Ian Leung Ho-wai cannot be convicted of unlawful assembly because of identification doubts
- Court questions use of ‘incoherent’ security camera footage and ‘hearsay’ evidence against the pair
Two university students accused of storming a Hong Kong campus checkpoint in a white powder attack on security guards two years ago have been cleared of involvement in an unlawful assembly.
Sha Tin Court on Friday did not convict Owen Au Cheuk-hei, a former student union chief at Chinese University (CUHK), and fellow undergraduate Ian Leung Ho-wai because of doubts over their identification.
Magistrate Gary Chu Man-hon ruled the presence of the two at the scene was based on “incoherent” security footage and “hearsay” evidence about their whereabouts after the incident, including dormitory check-in records.
He questioned the reliability of the dormitory records and highlighted that prosecutors had never tried to prove the records were accurate and had not been tampered with.
Chu also expressed concerns over using disconnected security footage to prove the duo’s involvement in the incident outside University MTR Station.