Two police officers who were among seven cops jailed for beating a pro-democracy activist in a dark corner during the 2014 Umbrella Movement had their convictions overturned this morning.
The seven officers were convicted and handed two-year sentences in February of 2017 after the District Court found them guilty of attacking pro-democracy activist Ken Tsang. Tsang was arrested on the evening of October 14, 2014, for pouring liquid over other officers as cops tried to carry out a clearance operation of the Umbrella Movement occupation site in Admiralty.
Video of what entailed, which was filmed by a TVB cameraman, shows the officers carry Tsang off to a dark corner and proceed to punch and kick him as he lays on the ground.
All seven were found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and jailed immediately, but months later they were granted bail pending the outcome of appeals against their convictions and sentences.
Defense attorneys representing the seven argued that their clients were under enormous pressure during the Umbrella Movement protests.
Appearing at the Court of Final Appeal this morning, Constable Lau Hing-pui, 42, and Detective Constable Wong Wai-ho, 40, had their convictions and jail sentences quashed with immediate effect.
The Court upheld the convictions of their five co-defendants — Chief Inspector Wong Cho-shing, 52; Senior Inspector Lau Cheuk-ngai, 33; Detective Sergeant Pak Wing-bun, 46; and detective constables Chan Siu-tan, 35, and Kwan Ka-ho, 35, — but reduced their sentences by a few months.
Wong Cho-sing and Lau Cheuk-ngai had their sentences reduced to 18 months behind bars, Pak and Kwan had theirs reduced to 15 months, and Chan had his reduced to 16 months.
According to i-Cable, lawyers representing the seven called for leniency during the appeal hearing. One of the attorneys said their client had suffered a “momentary lapse of judgement,” while another argued that the lower ranking officers should bee given shorter sentences.
The hearings were held in November but the judgement was only published today.
In overturning Lau Hing-pui and Wong Wai-ho’s sentences, the three appeal judges said that no witnesses were able to identify them from videos or photographs to prove they were present during Tsang’s assault.
As for the remaining five, they argued that immediate imprisonment was necessary.
“In our judgment, an offence such as this, in which the public had witnessed police officers, who were entrusted to uphold the law, break that law in such a deliberate and shocking way, must be visited with an immediate sentence of imprisonment,” the judgement reads.
