Court Quizzes Fairness Of Hospital Assault Charge

A magistrate on Thursday quizzed the prosecution on the fairness of charges laid against two policemen and a former officer over an alleged attack on a elderly suspect in a hospital, asking why the victim’s mental state was not assessed.

Police constables Au Kwok-wai, 25, and Tang Man-him, 24, jointly face a count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, for allegedly beating up the 62-year-old who was restrained on a stretcher in an isolated ward in the North District Hospital on June 26.

A third defendant, Lam Yik-sing, 30 – a former officer who says he is currently unemployed – is charged with conspiracy to commit the assault.

Acting principal magistrate of Sha Tin Court, Ko Wai-hung, asked the prosecutor whether they would consider getting psychological and psychiatric assessments of the victim “for fairness’ sake”, so that they will have more information to decide whether the current charges are appropriate.

But he made clear it was just “an observation” on his part, rather than “a suggestion”.

The prosecution said it was unable to get in touch with the victim earlier.

No plea was entered, and the three were each released on HK$10,000 bail and were not allowed to leave Hong Kong until the next mention of the case on October 17.

The case caught wide public attention after legislator Lam Cheuk-ting obtained surveillance camera footage of the alleged assault on behalf of the victim and accused the police of torture based on their actions captured on the video.