Senior cop slapped with molest and assault charges

Staff reporter

A police divisional commander who was suspended for allegedly molesting a woman in a restroom for the handicapped at a wet market and assaulting three people last year was granted bail yesterday.

Joseph Luk Chun-chung, 43, was charged with three counts of indecent assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm, common assault and dangerous driving.

No plea was taken as Luk appeared at a Fan Ling court, with magistrate Kenneth Chan Ping-chau adjourning the case to February 15 for the prosecution to prepare documents to refer the case to the district court.

Luk was yesterday granted bail of HK$5,000. He was banned from leaving Hong Kong and was asked to surrender his travel documents.

He was also required to report to the police every week, live at his reported address and cannot approach prosecution witnesses.

The court was told Luk indecent assaulted the woman three times in a Luen Wo Hui Market and Cooked Food Centre restroom in Fan Ling on June 22 and 23.

Luk was also accused of assaulting her and two men and of dangerous driving at a parking lot of Dawning Views in the district on July 15.

He had served as police negotiator and acting superintendent of the commercial crime bureau. A police spokesman has said Luk was off-duty at the time of the incidents and has been suspended.