A former Hong Kong police officer has been sentenced to three years in prison over forging statements in seven cases in a bid to wrap investigations prematurely.
District Court. File photo: GovHK.
Deputy District Court Judge Ivy Chui on Monday put Woo Siu-chun behind bars after the ex-police officer pleaded guilty to seven counts of misconduct in public office, according to local media reports.
Woo earlier admitted to having fabricated statements between December 2019 and September 2020 in cases involving four assaults, two thefts, and using a copy of a false document.
Chui dismissed the defence’s submission that the seven cases involved were of a “minor nature,” saying Woo had damaged public confidence in the police.
She said Woo was “well planned and rehearsed” in his offence, pointing to a supermarket theft case in which the ex-police officer lied to his superior, supermarket staff, and the son of the person who had been arrested, saying that all parties had wanted to settle without going to court.
“It was a complete disregard of law and an act of deceiving all people involved,” she said in Cantonese.
Deputy District Court Judge Ivy Chui. File photo: Judiciary.
Lawyers for Woo said during mitigation that, at that time, Hong Kong was embroiled in months-long protests and unrest and then hit by Covid. The force was “occupied” with restoring order to society and Woo was merely trying to “cut corners” to clear the stockpile of cases, they told the court.
Chui, however, noted that Woo had said he committed the offence because some complainants had not responded during investigations while his superior was pushing him to handle cases as they accumulated.
She said Woo was trying to shift the blame towards complainants and his boss in a bid to alleviate his liability.
She sentenced Woo to three years in jail for the offence, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.
