Magistrate calls footage relevant despite defence’s claim of possible tampering
JASMINE.SIU@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Friday, 29 April, 2016, 3:43pm
Ken Tsang Kin-chiu outside Kowloon City Court on Friday. Photo: Edward Wong
The police assault trial of pro-democracy activist Ken Tsang Kin-chiu formally began at Kowloon City Court on Friday as two controversial videos were ruled admissible as prosecutorial evidence.
Principal magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen’s ruling followed nearly two weeks of witness testimonies and legal arguments over the issue.
Contention centred on the authenticity of two Asia Television videos that showed the arrest of a man dressed in black. One video was downloaded from its website and another was collected by police officers at the broadcaster’s station.
Defence counsel Robert Pang Yiu-hung SC had argued that the videos may have been tampered with as the prosecution did not summon the involved journalists to testify as to how the footage was gathered and edited into the news report.
But the magistrate ruled: “On the balance of probabilities, I believe the two videos were relevant to the case.”
“They are both prima facie authentic,” he added.
Law also said there was no special reason for the court to exercise discretionary power to exclude the videos from the trial.
Tsang, 40, has denied a police assault charge and four charges of resisting arrest after allegedly pouring liquid over 11 officers in Admiralty on October 15, 2014, during the Occupy protests.
The trial continues with the prosecution’s case.
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1939985/prosecution-1-ken-tsang-0-hong-kong-court-rules-videos
