Police testify in Ken Tsang assault trial, say they were splashed with liquid that smelled ‘like urine’
Police officers gave their testimony on the alleged attack during the Occupy movement in 2014.
A police sergeant said he was splashed in the face with an unknown liquid that smelled like urine on the night when pro-democracy activist Ken Tsang Kin-chiu was arrested for alleged police assault in October 2014.
But Wong Hoi-man did not identify his attacker in his statement that was read out at the Kowloon City Court on Friday, except to say that it was “a man in black wearing goggles and face mask”.
The 20-year-officer was carrying out a police operation to clear protestors from Lung Wo Road underpass in Admiralty when the attack took place during the occupy movement.
He recalled in the statement: “We were moving forward when I suddenly felt my head was wet ... I looked up to see a man wearing goggles and face mask pouring an unknown liquid.”
The liquid later splashed over his face and he noticed that it smelled strange.
“I thought it was urine,” he continued. “So I called out to ask my colleagues to be careful.”
Principal magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen was previously told that Wong was among 11 police officers whom Tsang allegedly assaulted before he was said to have resisted police arrest on October 15, 2014.
Tsang, 40, had denied one charge of police assault and four of resisting arrest.
Police constable Ho Tak-cheung, who was among the 11, recalled in a statement that officers called out “don’t splash” as they directed their torches at the man in black, who was standing at a planter 10 metres above. But the attacks continued for three to four times.
Meanwhile, Sergeant Butt Wang-tat testified that he tackled the man in black after seeing him splash unknown liquid from a one-litre bottle onto the underpass below.
He recalled that he struggled to bring the man down to the pavement before two colleagues came forth to help handcuff the man.
But he did not know who those two colleagues were - until they met again at the operation’s evaluation on the next day – as he soon returned to the frontline to clear other protestors.
Sergeant Ching Ying-wai later testified that he ultimately handcuffed the man after pepper-spraying him once in the face as he continued to struggle.
By then, Ching said he had already pulled down the man’s goggles and face mask. But he denied a defence suggestion that he exposed the man’s face for pepper spray as he explained that he needed to identify the man.
Defence counsel David Ma questioned: “But you did not confirm his identity by asking him or writing down his personal information before you handed him over?” The witness agreed.
The day’s hearing followed the conclusion of a seven-day trial within trial, with the magistrate ruling in favor of the prosecution in admitting two Asia Television videos – that showed the arrest of a man in black – as evidence against Tsang.
The trial continues.
