'Chow Tsz-lok Most Likely Fell By Accident'

An orthopaedist told an inquest into the death of Chow Tsz-lok on Thursday that the university student most probably fell from height by accident last year, rather than having been attacked by someone.

The 22-year-old was found lying on the second floor of a car park in Tseung Kwan O with serious head injuries in the small hours of November 4 last year amid an anti-government protest in the area.

On day 24 of the inquest, expert witness James Kong gave the Coroner’s Court his assessment of what happened that night after examining Chow’s medical and post-mortem reports.

He said one could deduce whether Chow had jumped, fallen from height, or been thrown to the ground by looking at the horizontal distance between where he was found and a wall next to him on the second floor of the car park.

Considering that Chow lay just 1.3 metres away from the wall, Kong said it was unlikely that the student had been thrown to the ground by somebody.

He said Chow’s head injuries were more likely the result of a fall rather than a jump, as a jump would be more likely to cause injuries to a person's limbs and spine.

The expert concluded that there was a high chance that Chow had fallen from height accidentally after losing his balance, and landed on the right side of his head.

Kong added that if Chow had pressed his left hand against the wall, jumped over it and lost his footing, that could also have led to the injuries he sustained.

The doctor said that there was no evidence to show that Chow had been attacked, adding that there was no DNA from any other person underneath the student's finger nails.