Eleven years later, compensation for family of former policeman paralysed in knife attack
Chu Choi Yin-ping left the High Court on Thursday relieved more than a decade after her husband was stabbed while on patrol
The wife of a policeman seriously injured in an attack while on patrol 11 years ago has been granted compensation after a hard-fought legal battle.
Chu Choi Yin-ping said she was relieved after claims filed in 2008 on behalf of her husband Jacky Chu Chun-kwok against the police department were settled in her favour.
“I had already been disturbed by the incident ... I was also depressed by the lawsuit over compensation that had dragged on for so long,” she told media outside court.
The case was settled for an unspecified amount.
Liu Chi-yung served five years in prison for stabbing Chu while he was on patrol in Cheung Sha Wan in July 2005.
While the court found him liable for the police officer’s injuries, he was not required to pay out compensation as he was a bankrupt. Liu declined to respond to the media’s questioning after the hearing.
During his trial in 2006, Liu admitted that he had been stopped by Constable Chu near the entrance to the Po On Market. As the policeman examined his identity card, Liu pulled a knife from his pocket and stabbed the officer once before fleeing.
On Thursday, Chu’s wife said she would never forgive Liu for what he did to her husband, despite the fact that the attacker had written to the family to apologise.
Chu, now 41, paralysed and still undergoing hospital treatment, had once been in a near-vegetative state owing to brain damage caused by blood loss in the neck.
While little had changed in her husband’s condition for the past 11 years, his wife Chu Choi Yin-ping remained hopeful.
“He is able to move his limbs, but has difficulty responding to people around him,” she said.
“His doctors said there’s nothing more they can do with existing technology. But you won’t know ... I look forward to a miracle.”
Asked whether she was worried about the medical costs, Mrs Chu said her husband is receiving free treatment in a public hospital as a civil servant.
The unspecified amount sought from the government will be used to fund the family’s expenses.
Acknowledging former police commissioner Dick Lee Ming-kwai for his kindness, she added that police management had been taking care of the family.
Current police commissioner Stephen Lo Wai-chung has not visited them, Mrs Chu said.
“He is very busy,” she said.
