Yeung Ho-yin (inset) is free after a judge dismissed assault charges against him for lack of evidence. Photos: Facebook (Kelfin Yeung), inmediahk
Magistrate Lee Siu-ho said there was insufficient evidence against Yeung Ho-yin, a third-year architecture student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a volunteer of the Neighborhood and Worker’s Service Center.
Yeung had been charged with assaulting two police officers during last year’s democracy protests.
Cheung Kwun-man, one of the plaintiffs, claimed he had made a report to a doctor about his injuries.
However, the doctor denied having received such a report.
Also, video evidence showed Yeung was far back from a police line, not in front as described by Cheung, during the alleged assault.
A second plaintiff, Chan Man-chun, said he sustained a sprain in a middle finger from the attack.
Lee accepted the defense argument that Cheung could not have attacked the officers because they had pinned him to the ground in the first place.
And Chan wore protective gloves, so the injury was unlikely, Lee said.
Lee described the officers’ testimony as “dubious”.
Yeung later told reporters the verdict was “nothing to celebrate”, saying the system is unjust and the case was a waste of taxpayers’ money.
The case stemmed from a Nov. 30, 2014 incident when dozens of protesters crossed a police line in Admiralty.
The two officers were part of a contingent on patrol at the protest site. Yeung was among about 2,000 protesters.
Yeung said he was immediately taken away and accused of assault by the policemen after telling Cheung “there’s still time to flirt”.
– Contact us at english@hkej.com
DY/JP/RA
http://www.ejinsight.com/20150826-judge-dumps-police-assault-charges-against-protester/
