TNAG-0679-FCO40-828-Allegations-of-corruption-and-bribery-in-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 77

Re

Liu Ping-hon's Death

p.11

3

It is germane to observe further that the

pathologist's report was less than fulsome in its terms.

Whilst the injuries suffered were listed, there does

Certainly the

not seem to have been any attempt made to use laboratory

analysis to ascertain, for example, whether any foreign

matter existed in the damaged skull which could have been

implanted therein by some sort of blow prior to the fall

and ensuing contact with the road surface.

Government Pathologist was minded to agree with counsel

on cross-examination that the injuries suffered would not

have been inconsistent with a beating prior to the fall.

Nor were photographs of the injuries available at the

inquest it is not known whether any exist, although

this might be supposed to be standard practice.

Anonymous phone-calls

It is both natural and correct to refrain from attaching

evidential weight to any anonymous phone-calls. They

are merely cited here, however, since their occurrence

provides a further element, albeit hardly a significant

one, in the composite picture. Two calls were in fact

received: the first on the 30th July 1977, the day of

the funeral, when a family friend took a call at the

deceased's home. The caller stated that he wished to

speak to the deceased's sister but refused to disclose

his name, stating that if he did so he would meet the same

fate as the deceased. The second occasion occurred on the

16th August 1977 (10 days after a press conference held by

a number of Chinese University students interested in

focusing and maintaining public attention on Liu Ping-hon's

death) in which the President of the Student

Union

received a call from a person who said that he had been

a colleague of the deceased and that the matter was not

a simple one. The caller said that Liu Ping-hon did not

commit suicide, but that it was very troublesome to be

a witness.