HONG KONG: The inquest into the shooting death of a homeless Nepalese man by police resumed yesterday after a three-month hiatus.

The controversial case was suspended on confidential "procedural grounds", according to police.

Local resident Dil Bahadur Limbu was shot dead on March,17, 2009 by police constable Hui Ka-ki after he was allegedly attacked by Limbu.

At yesterday's hearing, doctors and an ambulance man testified about the injuries Hui sustained during his encounter with Limbu.

A doctor surnamed Fung from Caritas Medical Centre and another surnamed Tsang from the Cheung Sha Wan Jockey Club Clinic were called in to give evidence on Hui's wrist injury sustained during the alleged attack.

Fung said Hui's injury was mistakenly logged in as a left wrist injury instead of a right wrist injury on May 1, while Tsang said the error had been duplicated in their records on May 4.

The error went unnoticed until a request was made by police weeks later.

At previous hearings, Hui said his left wrist was injured while television footage after the shooting showed his right wrist was bandaged.

However, counsel for Limbu's widow Nigel Kat said he doubted the probabilities of two different doctors making the same mistake over a series of months.

Fung and Tsang both testified the mistake appeared only on medical certificates and not on medical notes that were hand-written by the physician involved.

Fung also said a decision by Hui to consult a Chinese bonesetting practitioner after seeing Western doctors was "rather common" since it is "a common option in Hong Kong if a patient was dissatisfied with progress."

Another witness surnamed Kwong, who was an ambulance attendant at the scene of the shooting, testified he found bruises at the corners of Hui's eyes, swelling on his right waist and the right hip.

Responding to a complaint about a man urinating on a hillside in Ho Man Tin, Hui went to the hillside of Lok Man Sun Cheun Estate in March of last year, where he confronted Limbu.

He was allegedly punched and hit with a wooden chair after asking for Limbu's identity documents. Hui then fired two shots after discharging his pepper spray and losing his baton.

About 50 more witnesses are scheduled to testify and the inquest is expected to continue for a month or so.

The inquest continues today.

(HK Edition 01/05/2010 page1)