Hong Kong News

Nonpartisan, Noncommercial, unconstrained.
Saturday, Jun 03, 2023

10 months’ jail for ex-policeman for mocking Hong Kong chief inspector’s death

10 months’ jail for ex-policeman for mocking Hong Kong chief inspector’s death

Chui Chun-man, 28, was found guilty of instigating hatred towards police by praising death of chief inspector and denigrating other officers in online comments.

A former policeman has been jailed for 10 months for sedition and denied bail pending an appeal after a magistrate found he was unremorseful about mocking a chief inspector’s death and denigrating senior officers in social media comments.

Chui Chun-man returned to West Kowloon Court on Monday to be sentenced on a charge of committing an act or acts with seditious intent by a magistrate who was endorsed by the city’s leader to hear the case.

The 28-year-old former constable was found guilty three weeks earlier of instigating hatred towards the force by praising the untimely death of 14-year police veteran Lam Yuen-yee and saying he wished all “dog officers” would die.

Chui Chun-man returned to West Kowloon Court to be sentenced.


Marine officer Lam was thrown overboard alongside three colleagues when their vessel was rammed by a turbocharged speedboat they were trying to intercept in mainland Chinese waters on September 25 in 2021.

Her body was found two days later, with the force posthumously promoting her from senior to chief inspector in recognition of her service.

Chui, then 26, wrote on the force’s official Facebook page that Lam deserved to die and that he wished all “dog officers” would “perish as soon as possible”.

He resigned in early November that year after police began disciplinary proceedings against him.

Acting Principal Magistrate Veronica Heung Shuk-han on Monday said Chui’s actions risked entrenching antagonism against police and exposing officers to the threat of violence by those who harboured ill feelings towards authorities.

She explained that even though the adoption of the national security law had successfully quelled anti-government protests in 2019, there were still safety concerns in the city and that an outbreak of violence remained likely.

The court considered Chui disclosing his profession in the remarks an attempt to establish credibility and his decision to publish the comments on the force’s official Facebook page a “deliberate” choice to be more provocative.

“The defendant insists that he bore no seditious intent in committing the offence. He shows an utter lack of remorse,” the magistrate said.

Defence lawyer Raymond Yu Chiu-cheuk asked for his client’s temporary release immediately after the ruling on grounds including a “reasonable” prospect of winning an appeal in the High Court and a “manifestly excessive” sentence, but Heung refused.

The court heard in mitigation that Chui, who moved from Guangzhou province at the age of 15, had considered being a police officer his dream job and had received 12 commendations during his four-year tenure on the force.

Chui was said to have committed the offence out of impulse after being taunted by a senior officer.

The former constable had lived off his mother as well as his own savings after his resignation, the court was told. He was said to be pursuing a higher diploma with a view to turning over a new leaf.

Earlier during the trial, Chui told the court that he was feeling “grumpy” at the time of the offence and did not genuinely believe in what he wrote on the spur of the moment.

But the magistrate found his explanations unreasonable and said he could not have made such “callous” remarks if he was indeed saddened by the inspector’s death.

Sedition is punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment upon a first conviction. It has been defined by the city’s top court as an offence capable of endangering national security, meaning defendants can face higher hurdles when applying for bail and their cases may only be heard by judges approved by the chief executive.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Hong Kong News
Close
0:00
0:00
The driver has been described by authorities as a 21-year-old woman from Tallahassee
Joe Biden falls at the Air Force Graduation
America's Got Talent…
Elon Musk has been showered with praise by the Chinese public during his trip to China
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
Drone Attack on Moscow's Wealthiest Neighborhoods Suspected to be Launched by Ukraine
Elon Musk Meets Chinese Finance Minister in Beijing
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
Chinese fighter jet buzzes U.S. Air Force spy plane over South China Sea
Prominent Hacker Forum RaidForums Suffers Substantial Data Breach
Nvidia CEO Huang says firms, individuals without AI expertise will be left behind
WPP Revolutionizes Advertising with NVIDIA's AI Powerhouse
Two US Employees Fired For Chasing Robbers Out Of Store As They Broke ''Company Policy''
Pfizer, the EU, and disappearing ink - Smoke, Mirrors, and the Billion-Dose Pfizer Vaccine Deal: EU's 'Open Secret
The Sussexes' Royal Rebound: Could Harry and Meghan Markle Return to the UK?
A provocative study suggests: Left-Wing Extremism and its Unsettling Connection to Psychopathy and Narcissism
Neuralink Receives FDA Approval for First-in-Human Clinical Study
Ukrainian Intelligence Official Admits to Assassination Attempts on Putin
WATCH THIS: democracy in Russia is so bad!
Ed Davey: It is possible for a woman to have a penis
Bernard Arnault Loses $11.2 Billion in One Day as Investors Fear Slowdown in US Growth Will Reduce Demand for Luxury Products
Russian’s Wagner Group leader: “I am not a chef, I am a butcher. Russia is in danger of a revolution like in 1917.”
TikTok Sues Montana Over Law Banning the App
Ron DeSantis Jumps Into 2024 Presidential Race, Setting Up Showdown With Trump
Steve Jobs introducing Apple's iPhone, exactly 16 years ago.
Banking Behemoth vs Ex-Boss: The PMorgan-Epstein Entanglement
China overtakes Japan as world's top car exporter
Talks between US House Republicans and President Biden's Democratic administration on raising the federal government's $31.4tn debt ceiling have paused
Biden Administration Eyeing High-Profile Visits to China: The Biden Administration is heating things up by looking into setting up a series of top-level visits to Beijing by top officials in the coming months
New evidence in special counsel probe may undercut Trump’s claim documents he took were automatically declassified
A French court of appeals confirmed former President Nicolas Sarkozy's three-year jail term for corruption and influence peddling
Debt Ceiling Crises Have Unleashed Political Chaos
Weibao Wang, a former software engineer at Apple, was charged with stealing trade secrets related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars
Mobile phone giant Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs globally over three years as new boss says its performance not good enough
Elon Musk compares George Soros to Magneto, the supervillain from the Marvel Comics series.
Warren Buffett Sells TSMC Shares Over Concerns About Taiwan's Stability
New Study Finds That Secondary Bacterial Pneumonia Is a Major Cause of Death in COVID-19 Patients Who Require Ventilator Assistance
The official tapes of Trump's deposition in the E. Jean Carroll battery (rape) and defamation case have been released.
King Charles III being crowned.
Newly released video of Donald Trump’s rape trial deposition:
Video: Ukraine MP Punches Russian Representative At Global Meet
El Paso mayor has declared a state of emergency
Russia accused Ukraine of attacking the Kremlin with drones in an attempt to kill Putin
Dutch court orders man who fathered 550 kids to stop donating sperm
Kim Kardashian Lookalike Christina Ashten Dies Of Cardiac Arrest, Hours After Plastic Surgery
Samsung has banned employees from using generative AI services such as ChatGPT
'Godfather Of AI' Geoffrey Hinton Quits Google To Warn Of The Tech's Dangers
A Real woman
Vermont Man Charged with Stalking After Secretly Tracking Woman with Apple AirTag
Elon Musk Statements About Tesla Autopilot Could Be 'Deepfakes,' Lawyers Claim. Judge Evette Pennypacker Does Not Understand How Far and Advanced This Technology Became
×