Shoot-out survivor may testify

(China Daily HK Edition)
Updated: 2007-03-16 09:42

Coroner Michael Chan, coroner's officer Arthur Luk and the jury yesterday night visited the Tsim Sha Tsui shoot-out scene, an underpass linking Canton Road and Austin Road, while the two models of the shoot-out scene were presented to the court.

The only survivor in the incident and the families of the two slain constables are expected to give testimony today.

Luk said the jurors should pay attention to three spots of the underpass, including the location where the dead bodies of the two constables were found.

The jurors should also look into the subway entrance facing the Victoria Towers, and the opposite entrance besides Canton Road Fire Station where two on-duty constables had entered to sign the patrol record book, he said.

Luk said the jurors should find out whether a person standing at the entrance facing The Victoria Towers could see other persons walking into the underpass through the fire station entrance.

The scale of the shoot-out scene model, which only included the part of Canton Road where the shoot-out had taken place, is 1:50. The scale of the other model, which included the part of Austin Road, was 1:100.

Replicas of the underpass reflective mirrors were included in the models. The replicas of the mirrors were movable.

Eighteen police officers , including superintendent, inspectors, sergeant and constables, had worked for three weeks to construct the models.

Police had earlier said Tsui was the alleged suspect of the shoot-out and responsible for the death of another constable Leung Shing-yan and the 2001 Hang Seng Bank robbery.

Yesterday the inquest continued to focus on the long sleeves red polo shirt worn by the Hang Seng Bank robber. A bank surveillance video showed that the robber wore the shirt inside out.

Chen Feng, who helped organizing the Yinchuan International Motorcycle Tourism Festival in 2000, said they had given about 200 long sleeves souvenir red polo shirts to the festival visitors, including Tsui. The festival's motorcycle logo was printed on the shirt's left chest.

Chen said the mark on the right chest of the red polo shirt worn by the bank robber in the bank's video looked similar to the festival logo. He also said the shirt worn by a man, who looked like Tsui, in video footages seized from Tsui's home in Tung Chung was the same as the souvenir shirt.

Forensic scientist Wong Tai-wai said the shirt worn by the bank robber had similarities with the sample festival shirt obtained by the police, which also had similarities with the shirt worn by the man in the video footages.

Chen said he had no contact with Tsui after the festival, but he could recall that Tsui had used left hand to write and eat.

Chen said he was able to identify on the internet a day after the shoot-out that Tsui was the killed constable .

Chen, who spent four days with Tsui, said two Hong Kong police officers met him in Yinchuan. Tsui's mother Cheung Wai-mei had attended yesterday's inquest, but she was sitting in the public gallery and refused Coroner Michael Chan's offer to ask witnesses questions.

A resident living in a building close to the scene, who had witnessed the shoot-out, would also be summoned to give evidence.



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