An interesting case occupied the attention of Mr. Garstin (British Assessor) and Magistrate Kuan at the Mixed Court on December 31, when a Chinese constable named Tsang Tsz-woo was charged with unlawfully, corruptly and by pretext and colour of his office attempting to extort money from hawkers, Mr. K. E. Newman appeared for the prosecution, the accused being defended by Mr. Musso.
In explaining the case, Mr, Newman said that it arose from the dismissal of @ constable a little while ago for bribery. In con quence it became the duty of the inspector in charge of the Central Police Station to warn the other Chinese constables against bribery and corruption. The constables were told by an interpreter, who informed Inspector Vaughan that he knew of a imilar case. Inquiries were made, and four hawkers were found in Shantung Road who said that the accused had repeatedly demanded thirty cents. Since the case was first started, a been sent in to the Captain Superintendent of Police by the friends of the accused, who was a Mohammedan, and it would really be a question for the Court to decide whether the story of the hawkers was @ true one or not.
According to the witnesses for the prosecution, the accused, whose beat was in Shantung Road, was in the habit of demanding money of the hawkers in consideration for which they would be allowed to have their stalls in the roadway. On December 11, conversation was overheard between the accused and one of the complainants, during which the hawker said that other members of his calling had refused to pay any money. The accused thereupon smacked the hawker in the face, kicked him and threatened to take him to the station.
Inspector Vaughan was cross-examined at length by Mr. Musso, during which he said that no licences were issued to hawkers and when the interpreter told him that these men were in the habit of standing in the street he was practically telling him that they were committing an offence, as they were not allowed to stand there.
The case was adjourned.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.