Wrongful arrest of autistic man shows nothing has changed, says mother of Hong Kong boy lost in Shenzhen in 2000
The mother of an autistic teenager whose disappearance 15 years ago sparked a public outcry and paved the way for strict new guidelines on police handling of special needs cases, says the recent wrongful arrest of an autistic man proves nothing has changed.
The mother of an autistic teenager whose disappearance 15 years ago sparked a public outcry and paved the way for strict new guidelines on police handling of special needs cases, says the recent wrongful arrest of an autistic man proves nothing has changed.
In 2000, Yu Lai Wai-ling's son, Yu Man-hon, found his way to the Lo Wu border, where Hong Kong officials mistakenly took him to be an illegal immigrant and cut him loose on the streets of Shenzhen. He was never seen or heard from again.
She says the mistaken arrest and detention of a 30-year-old autistic man, in connection with the killing of a 73-year-old man in Sha Tin, exposes the promises of reform as hollow.
The man was arrested on May 2 and held under a police holding charge before being released two days later after CCTV footage placed him elsewhere at the time of the crime. The killer of the pensioner remains at large.
I’m very angry… It shows nothing has changed since [Man-hon was lost]
Yu - whose son was 15 but had a mental age of two when he vanished - said yesterday: "I'm very angry… Even though the case is not directly related to me, it shows police still don't know how to handle those who have intellectual disabilities and trouble expressing themselves.
"News reports said the police will review their procedures - that's what they said when Man-hon was lost. Nothing has changed since then."
Police came under further fire yesterday amid claims they had breached their own guidelines when arresting the autistic man.
The 30-year-old - who has a mental age of six - was denied medication and asked misleading questions during his interrogation by police, according to his brother Au Wai-ho. He was also questioned without a family member being present, Au said.
Au said that after he arrived at the police station - and before being allowed to see his sibling - officers showed him a statement admitting guilt made by his brother and asked Au to sign it.
"I told the officer there was no way my brother would understand or say that," he said.
Labour Party lawmaker Fernando Cheung, who is helping the family, claimed police had breached their own guidelines by questioning the man without a family member being present.
After being detained for some 50 hours, the man was released on bail with a holding charge of manslaughter, which was later dropped when it was found he had been at a Tuen Mun institute at the time of the assault on the 73-year-old.
Hong Kong police acknowledged an independent third party should be present during the questioning of any individual with special needs. The statement added: "As far as this case is concerned, except for the immediate arrest, the relative(s) of the arrested person [were] with him when the police made inquiries and took statements from him."
Au said that while his family accepted the police's "regret'' over the arrest, they would press ahead with a complaint to the Complaints Against Police Office in an effort to force real change.
"Now that [the police] have taken responsibility, the next step is to press for change ... We don't want to see this happening again," he said.
He called for an independent panel to review and monitor the guidelines police need to adhere to when dealing with intellectually disabled people.
