Hong Kong constable paralysed in 2005 knife attack laid to rest with full honours

Hong Kong’s top government officials and police officers have paid their final respects to a former constable who died 21 years after being left paralysed in an attack while on duty, during a funeral with full police honours.

Jacky Chu Chun-kwok, who died last month aged 52, was laid to rest on Friday following a service at the Universal Funeral Parlour in Hung Hom at 10.30am, which was attended by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu and Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung.

The mood was sombre as family members, friends, colleagues and senior officials bid farewell to Chu, formerly a constable with the Police Tactical Unit.

Holding Chu’s portrait, his wife, Chu Choi Yin-ping, wept alongside their daughter, Michelle, as they stepped out of the funeral parlour.

Outside, uniformed officers formed a contingent to salute the late constable, while members of the public lined the streets to mourn him.

Other senior government officials paying homage included Commissioner of Police Joe Chow Yat-ming, Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan, as well as former police commissioner Dick Lee Ming-kwai. Legislative Council president Starry Lee Wai-king and Executive Council convenor Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee were also present.

After the service, dozens of officers provided an honour guard escort as the cortege travelled to Cheung Sha Wan Police Station for a farewell ceremony at about 11am.

Chu’s coffin, draped with the Hong Kong flag, was carried by fellow officers and placed in a black police van converted into a hearse. At the police station, several officers bowed three times before the hearse.

Shortly after noon, the hearse left for Gallant Garden at Wo Hop Shek Cemetery, where Chu was laid to rest. The dedicated memorial and burial ground within the cemetery is reserved for civil servants who have died in the line of duty.

Chu died last month after spending 21 years paralysed and bedridden. On the morning of July 19, 2005, he was critically injured while on solo patrol when a man stabbed him in the neck with a six-inch knife.

The attacker, Liu Chi-yung, had been carrying the knife with the intention of robbing pedestrians when Chu stopped him for an identity check outside the Po On Road Municipal Services Building in Cheung Sha Wan.

When the then 30-year-old constable grew suspicious and confronted him, Liu pulled out the knife, stabbed Chu in the neck and fled.

Chu pursued the attacker but eventually collapsed from excessive blood loss. Oxygen deprivation to the brain left him completely paralysed and in a vegetative state.