By Coconuts Hong Kong December 24, 2015 /10:59 HKT
A traffic police officer, who was charged with 10 counts of driving without insurance and a further seven of driving while disqualified, successfully argued that he misunderstood the duration of his licence suspension period in court on Tuesday.
According to Apple Daily (as translated by HKFP), Cheung Wai-lun, of the Kowloon West traffic division, originally received a six-month suspension after speeding in August 2014. He was subsequently caught driving into his police station and speeding again between November 2014 and January 2015.
On Tuesday, Cheung confessed to eight counts of driving while disqualified and driving without third party insurance at the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Court.
Cheung’s defence argued that he was required to join a driving improvement course after the first three months of his suspension, after which Cheung mistakenly thought he was allowed back on the road.
Deputy Magistrate Lam Tsz-kan questioned how Cheung thought this was possible, since disqualified drivers must surrender their licences.
Cheung, however, explained that he had lost his licence during his suspension, but (conveniently) found it a few days later. He never cancelled the loss report, but believed he could still use the licence.
We’re thinking it might be time for a certain someone to go back to traffic cop school...
To justify the speeding, Cheung claimed that it was an emergency.
Just like everyone else, no doubt, Lam felt that Cheung, being a traffic officer 'n' all, should have known to surrender the licence once found, and should have realised that the disqualification period was six months.
Although Lam said that Cheung’s reasoning was unbelievable, the magistrate accepted that the officer’s story correlated with the facts. Lam did indeed join a driving improvement course after three months of being suspended, Lam reasoned.
The sentencing will be heard on Jan. 7. Cheung has been allowed to post bail.
http://hongkong.coconuts.co/2015/12/24/hong-kong-traffic-police-man-charged-17-driving-offences
