A Hong Kong court has imposed a suspended jail sentence on a veteran police chief inspector for drunken behaviour in a hospital, with the presiding magistrate reprimanding her for bringing “shame” to the force.
Sha Tin Court on Friday convicted Ann Yip Man-yi, 53, of drunk and disorderly conduct at CUHK Medical Centre after a dispute with her hospitalised mother on the morning of October 22 last year.
Video evidence showed Yip, an assistant commander in Yuen Long district before her suspension, had thrown a tantrum inside a ward and accused five officers called to the scene of acting “arrogantly” and disrespecting their profession.
The defendant called the officers “scoundrels” and questioned why they treated her like “yellow-ribbon rioters”, a derogatory phrase used to refer to anti-government protesters during the 2019 social unrest.
She could not speak coherently at times during the 77-minute altercation, mixing her native Cantonese with English and Japanese in her verbal exchanges with her on-duty colleagues.
Yip also threw objects and locked herself inside a room before she was arrested.
She admitted she had drunk a can of beer hours before the ruckus but maintained she was not the sort to “suddenly become someone different” due to intoxication.
Magistrate David Chum Yau-fong said Yip was obviously drunk at the time despite her claim that she had a high tolerance of alcohol.
He noted the chief inspector with more than three decades’ experience acted aggressively and repeatedly challenged the on-duty officers’ authority with jargon.
Her uncooperative behaviour also caused disturbance to others and created difficulties for her colleagues, Chum added.
Defence counsel Oliver Davies said in mitigation the gravity of the case was at the “very low end of disorderly conduct” where a fine was “the only appropriate sentence”.
But the magistrate rejected that suggestion and said Yip had acted against her oath of office by failing to conduct herself in an honourable manner during off-hours.
“If a police officer does not act properly while off duty, how can [he] be fit to enforce the law and ask other people to act [in a similar manner]?” he said.
Chum also expressed disbelief the defendant did not face more serious charges such as resisting a police officer.
The court jailed Yip for 15 days but suspended that term for two years in light of her contribution to the force and possible punishment she might face in coming disciplinary proceedings.
Davies said his client intended to file an appeal in the High Court.
Drunk and disorderly conduct carries a maximum sentence of two months’ imprisonment and a HK$2,000 (US$256) fine.
