Hong Kong court rejects officer’s bid to suspend prosecution in cabby’s death

A Hong Kong court has declined a police officer’s request to temporarily halt his prosecution ahead of an intended judicial challenge to an inquest verdict that found he unlawfully killed a taxi driver by putting him in a headlock in 2012.

Constable Lam Wai-wing applied last month for a judicial review of the Coroner’s Court ruling that he had deliberately used illegal force in arresting Chan Fai-wong, who later died from complications of a cervical dislocation.

Lam, who is still serving on the force, also asked the High Court to restrain the Department of Justice from taking any further steps in his prosecution pending the outcome of the intended review.

Mr Justice Russell Coleman rejected Lam’s request on Wednesday, stating that no actual prosecution had yet been commenced against the officer and that he had failed to justify limiting the department’s broad power of initiating criminal proceedings.

The judge also noted that Lam, who was still seeking legal assistance through the Civil Service Bureau, appeared to have lodged the present challenge as a “place holder” until he could find lawyers to substantiate his grounds.

“These judicial review proceedings seem to have been launched simply because the applicant does not like the verdict, rather than because he has found in the documents any proper basis to challenge it,” Coleman said.