By Priscilla Yu August 3, 2015 / 16:36 HKT
A mentally disabled man, surnamed Au, was traumatised by his experience with the police after he was wrongly accused of killing a 73-year-old dog owner over a row about his pet in April, says Au’s brother.
According to his brother, Au was detained for 48 hours. He claims that the officer who was responsible for the case wrote a comment saying, “If he didn’t talk so much, then we wouldn’t have had to do so much work.”
Though the incident happened more than three months ago, a psychological assessment revealed that Au now pushes away pictures showing police officers or police-related items, showing that the incident affected him negatively.
Au’s brother is pursuing a complaint against the Hong Kong police with the Equal Opportunities Commission, claiming that the officers broke anti-discrimination laws.
“Now, you never know, just because you look like a suspect, you might get arrested, and even detained for 48 hours, and they’ll ask you a tonne of questions.”
Last month, Au’s brother attended a seminar on the legal rights of mentally disabled people, and during a press conference yesteray, he mentioned how a human rights lawyer talked about the right to remain silent.
“If you want to co-operate with the police, then do no talk too much. You don’t have to answer every question, just simply say that you have nothing to say, and tell the police to either charge you or to let you go.”
Au’s brother stated that he believed the incident would be forgotten soon but that he will continue to raise awareness about mentally disabled people’s rights in the name of justice.
He does not want another person to go through what his brother did, he said, adding that the public – including himself – often assumes that the police treat mentally disabled better than they actually do.
”I once assumed that suspects who are mentally disabled and ill would be kept in detention wards, and not in detention rooms. I thought that the basic rights to take medicine, drink water and even go to the toilet would be granted.”
But this is not the case, he claims.
After the incident, Au’s brother complained to the police, but no reports about the investigation have been released .
Photo via Apple Daily
http://hongkong.coconuts.co/2015/08/03/mentally-disabled-man-wrong-accused-murder-was-traumatised-police-says-brother
