A 22-year-old shop assistant was acquitted of assaulting a police officer at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on 15 October. The charge arose from an incident outside a second-hand bookshop at the shopping centre in Kwai Chung, where the officer said the defendant had poked him three times.
The magistrate found the officer’s evidence inconsistent and weakened under cross-examination, and said it could not safely be relied on. Footage of the incident did not show the alleged poking.
The defendant had admitted a separate offence of disorderly conduct in a public place. The magistrate fined him HK$3,000, taking account of his youth and remorse.
The magistrate also refused his application for costs relating to the assault charge, saying his conduct had made him suspect.