Niece of judge in court

Amina Mariam Bokhary, the niece of Court of Final Appeal judge Kemal Bokhary and Executive Councilor Ronald Arculli, appeared in Eastern Magistrates' Court Wednesday on charges of assaulting a police officer, refusing to provide a breath specimen and careless driving. She was released on bail, awaiting trial on May 20.

According to media reports, Bokhary allegedly drove a car into the opposite lane on Stubbs Road after midnight on January 27 and crashed into a tour bus, injuring the bus driver. She refused to take a breathalyzer test and slapped a police officer when trying to leave the scene.

The 33-year-old woman, who suffers from bipolar depressive disorder, was convicted of assaulting police officers in 2001 and 2008.

Bomb threat earns probation

A jobless young man who made threats to bomb the home of Chief Executive Donald Tsang was sentenced to 18-month probation at the Tuen Mun Magistrates' Court Wednesday. Chan Wing-leung, 20, will also have to undergo psychological counseling under the supervision of his probation officer.

Chan Wing-leung, 20, declared his criminal intent in an online forum in December. He also declared he would kill a person for HK$10,000 and asked his readers to submit their opinions on the best place to rape a woman.

Though Chan obviously had no plan to carry out the crime, his posts disturbed many people and roused public aversion, said Magistrate Stephen Smout.

Couple jump to death

A couple leapt to their deaths in a Yuen Long village in an apparent suicide on Wednesday morning.

A villager of Wing Lung Wai, on Kam Tin Road, found two bodies in a back alley at about 5 am and alerted police. The man and woman, aged 34 and 32, were identified as a couple living in a nearby village house.

Knife wounds were found on them. The police said the couple had wounded themselves before jumping from the building and there were no suspicious circumstances.

Rehab centers to see more funding

The Security Bureau plans to raise the funding ceiling for drug rehabilitation centers if the Legislative Council (LegCo) votes for the HK$3 billion injection into the Beat Drugs Fund.

Currently the non-government organization (NGO) drug rehabilitation center can receive HK$6 million funding at most while the government-run ones are limited to HK$3 million. With the injection into the Beat Drugs Fund, the bureau will raise the upper limit and issue funding twice, rather than once, every year, according to a document submitted to the LegCo.

Financial Secretary John Tsang proposed in his February budget the HK$3 billion injection to increase funding for anti-drug initiatives.

Personalized car plate auction

The Transport Department announced Wednesday that the next auction of personalized vehicle registration marks (PVRMs) will be held on April 24 in Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wan Chai.

"A total of 256 approved PVRMs will be put up for public auction. A list of the marks has been posted at the Transport Department's website www.td.gov.hk today," a department spokesman said.

China Daily

(HK Edition 04/08/2010 page1)