Prosecutors told the court that a pro-democracy activist who claimed he was kidnapped and tortured by mainland government agents in 2017 had actually staged his own kidnapping and fabricated the story.
According to Ming Pao, defendant Howard Lam Tsz-kin had to be repeatedly warned by the magistrate not to interrupt the testimony of two police officers who were giving evidence at the trial at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
The court also played CCTV footage taken from various streets and stores across Mong Kok, Yau Ma Tei, Sai Kung, and Ma On Shan on Aug. 10, 2017 to the following morning.
The footage appeared to contradict Lam’s claims that he was kidnapped in Mong Kok by mainland government agents who then bundled him into a van, tortured him by stapling crosses onto his legs, and then abandoned him at a beach in Sai Kung about eight hours later.
One of the officers who was giving evidence, Lam kam-wa, said that in one of the surveillance videos played in court, the defendant can be seen standing outside a sports grounds in Sai Kung, near the stop for minibuses to and from Mong Kok.
Another officer, Ho Pan-shing, told the court that he watched more 1,500 hours of surveillance footage and that officers concluded that the man in the footage was Lam after comparing their appearance, build, and they way they walked.
Lam reportedly shouted “ridiculous”, “don’t talk nonsense”, “the way I walk?” throughout the court proceedings, at one point even slammed the table, prompting the acting chief magistrate So Wai-tak to remind him on multiple occasions not to interrupt.
Lam has pleaded not guilty to the charge of knowingly making a false report to the police, which carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a fine of HK$1,000 (US$128)
The trial continues.
