Eunice Lam
Six police officers were jailed for 25 to 41 months for perverting the course of justice after they framed a homeless man for drug trafficking during an anti-drugs operation in Sham Shui Po in 2020.
District Court judge Kathie Cheung Kit-yee slammed the six officers for making false statements, abusing their power to frame an innocent citizen and even blocking security cameras from recording their wrongdoings.
The incident, she said, had brought shame to the police force and caused the public to lose confidence in authority.
The six officers – Leung Fei-pang, 29, Pong Chun-sze, 29, sergeant Lam Wah-ka, 44, Mok Chi-shing, 25, Wan Pak-sze, 25, and Chan Sau-yip, 27 – were convicted last month for framing street sleeper Le Van Muoi for drug trafficking, while someone deliberately obscured a security camera.
Le, 54, was subsequently arrested for possessing dangerous drugs and charged on March 10, 2020. He committed suicide on October 8 that same year at Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre, where he had been remanded.
The case involved a total of eight police officers. Two of them, Kwok Chin-sing, 30, and Hon Ting-kwong, 29, were acquitted of all charges.
In her written judgment yesterday, Cheung said Le had been previously convicted of several drug-related charges, including possession of dangerous drugs, and sentenced to addiction treatment.
These could show Le had a drug habit and that it was reasonable when he told police about how to purchase and take drugs under caution, she added.
But since the security camera had been covered for some 40 minutes and the reason for Le confessing remaining unknown, Cheung did not accept Le’s confession as evidence of possession.
“The fifth to seventh defendants [Lam, Wan and Mok] had fabricated evidence to frame Le for having possession of drugs,” Cheung said. “I cannot ignore that [the officers’] acts led to an innocent man being prosecuted and forced to go through unnecessary legal procedures.”
Cheung also said that despite there being no evidence of intent, it was clear the defendants achieved a certain level of consensus through their “cooperative behaviors.”
She also rejected the defense’s claim that Le would get a lenient sentence for the framed offense as it involved trafficking “ice,” the street name for crystal meth.
“The sentence would still be heavier than for other types of drugs and may be aggravated due to Le’s criminal history,” Cheung added.
The defense had earlier called for a sentence reduction for the defendants who admitted the most facts in the case.
But Cheung said those matters are difficult to verify, such as duty hours and surveillance camera footage, and therefore no deduction was warranted.
Based on a guideline of 27 to 42 months’ imprisonment, Cheung handed down a reduction of two to four months after considering their good background and huge stress following their arrest four years ago.
Cheung also slammed sergeant Lam for failing to guide his colleagues well and sentenced him to 41 months after considering he would lose his pension.
The other five were sentenced to 25 to 37 months in jail.
eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com
