Lawyer questions methods used to identify defendant; magistrate will give verdict on May 26
JASMINE.SIU@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Friday, 06 May, 2016, 11:03pm
Ken Tsang outside Kowloon City Court. Photo: Edmond So
Lawyers for democracy activist Ken Tsang Kin-chiu argued on Friday that he was not the man shown in video recordings allegedly assaulting police officers during an Occupy protest.
Closing submissions were filed before Kowloon City Court principal magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen, who will deliver his verdict on May 26.
Tsang, 40, denies one count of assaulting police and four of resisting arrest.
Prosecutors alleged that the social worker splashed liquid that smelled like urine over 11 officers who were clearing protesters from an underpass in Lung Wo Road, Admiralty, on October 15, 2014.
The incidents were purportedly captured in videos filmed by police – showing a man in black T-shirt, goggles and mask splashing liquid – and ATV footage of a man in a black T-shirt being arrested.
My primary stance is the man in the videos is not the man here [in court]
ROBERT PANG YIU-HUNG SC
Deputy director of public prosecutions David Leung Cheuk-yin SC argued Tsang was the man in the videos as his undisputed police mugshots showed they not only looked alike but wore a similar T-shirt.
But defence counsel Robert Pang Yiu-hung SC said: “My primary stance is the man in the videos is not the man here [in court].”
Pang said the prosecution had tried to connect the police videos with Tsang’s mugshots by using the ATV videos in establishing that the defendant was the man who assaulted police.
“Clearly an identification parade was not conducted,” he said. “Police did not identify him in court, and there was no record of the night’s arrest or even [the identity] of the officer to whom he was handed over. This is a strange point.”
Also at issue was the authenticity of the ATV videos admitted after a trial-within-trial, said Pang, who noted that the court must be sure beyond a reasonable doubt that the footage had not been tampered with.
Given the man who assaulted police had dressed up like a frogman, the counsel further argued it was a “very dangerous” practice to base identification on clothing when there was no evidence to show Tsang did not change clothes.
“Let’s ask Bossini and Giordano how many shirts of the same print they sell each year,” he said, before pointing out that Tsang in his mugshots was not wearing the bandana seen on the man.
Even if a safe identification could be made from the visuals, Pang noted there were many contradictions and inconsistencies in the testimony by six officers.
He said witnesses gave different accounts of the duration, process and individuals involved in restraining the man, and only one testified that pepper spray was used.
“The prosecution case is not satisfactory,” Pang said.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1942022/hong-kong-activist-accused-assaulting-police-not-man-shown
