Eight police officers pleaded not guilty to 10 counts on charges that included assaulting, torturing and framing street sleepers in Sham Shui Po.
The charges also include perverting the course of justice, criminal damage and misconduct in public office after they allegedly assaulted a homeless man and framed him for drug trafficking.
District court judge Kathie Cheung Kit-yee yesterday heard that in February 2020, the eight Sham Shui Po officers, since suspended from duty, conducted an anti-crime operation in Tung Chau Street Park.
The eight are Kwok Chin-sing, Hon Ting-kwong, Leung Fei-pang, Pong Chun-sze, Lam Wah-ka, Mok Chi-shing, Wan Pak-Sze and Chan Sau-yip, aged between 27 and 46.
According to constable Lam's notes, the late Le Van Muoi, a 54-year-old street sleeper from Vietnam, was in a tent trying to take drugs before officers dragged him out and seized a black plastic box with a few packets of suspected drugs in it.
According to Mok and Wan's police notebooks, Le was holding the black plastic box in his right hand.
But the prosecution told the court that surveillance camera footage showed the officers walking directly to the tent and pulling Le out, pushing him to the ground without any objects in Le's hands.
The footage also showed officers found a white item in a cupboard, which was placed in a black plastic box by Wan, while Chan walked toward the surveillance camera with a red bag to attempt and cover it.
Leung was also filmed attempting to climb a pillar thrice to that end but in vain. Pong then aimed and threw wet tissues at the camera in the hope of blocking the lens.
Le was subsequently arrested for possessing dangerous drugs and charged on March 10, 2020. He committed suicide on October 8 that year in a cell at Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre where he was remanded.
In another operation the same day, footage showed Kwok and Chan cuffing another 67-year-old homeless man Nguyen's and taking him to a bench for questioning.
Leung then grabbed Nguyen around the neck from behind and dragged him to a sandy area with Kwok and Chan following.
They were caught on camera punching and kicking Nguyen while Hon checked on his colleagues every now and then.
Three minutes later, they took Nguyen, who was holding onto his upper torso, away. He was hospitalized with a broken rib.
Nguyen, currently on remand, told the court that at dusk on February 4, 2020, seven officers came to the Tung Chau Street Park and asked him for his identification card.
While he was in the process of doing so, one officer produced a 40-centimeter-long knife and dropped it in front of him.
"The officer tried to force me to hold it," said Nguyen, who was then beaten by three officers after he refused to pick the knife up.
"I was almost beaten unconscious," he said, adding he was also kicked in the back..
The trial, scheduled for 20 days, continues today.
