Frankly Chu's Baton Attack 'cannot Be Condoned'

The Court of Final Appeal said on Thursday that retired police superintendent Frankly Chu’s “unwarranted use of force” when he struck a man with his baton during the 2014 Occupy protest "cannot be condoned", even though the judges said they have sympathy for Chu for finding himself in a “highly regrettable situation”.

The judges made the remarks as they handed down the reasons for their earlier decision not to hear Chu’s appeal against his assault conviction.

Chu has already completed a three-month term for assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

When asking for leave to appeal to the top court, Chu's lawyer earlier contended that it was wrong for the trial magistrate and a High Court judge who rejected his appeal to treat “the degree of force he used” as if he was an ordinary man in a self-defence case, instead of a police officer performing his duty.

But the top court said since the lower courts had ruled that Chu did not honestly believe his use of force was necessary, one doesn’t have to consider whether the degree of force used was reasonable.

The top court also decided that contrary to the defence claims, the High Court did view the evidence – including video footage capturing the offence – carefully, rather than merely looking for mistakes in the trial magistrate’s ruling.

In the written judgement, the judges said they "echo the magistrate's and judge's acknowledgement of the extremely difficult and often provocative circumstances faced by the police during the Occupy Central protests and pay homage to the disciplined professionalism exhibited by the vast majority of the officers deployed".

But they added that Chu's "violation of the law involving the unwarranted use of force against a member of the public cannot be condoned".