Former Ming Pao editor Kevin Lau ‘fighting for life’ after chop attack in Sai Wan Ho
Ex-chief editor Kevin Lau Chun-to hospitalised after an attack by two assailants early on Wednesday morning
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 26 February, 2014, 1:04pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 26 February, 2014, 8:29pm
Clifford Lo, Tony Cheung, Lo Wei, Joanna Chiu, Emily Tsang and Johnny Tam
Former Ming Pao chief editor Kevin Lau Chun-to is transferred to the operating theatre at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Former Ming Pao chief editor Kevin Lau Chun-to was today fighting for his life after he was chopped in the back and leg in an attack in Sai Wan Ho.
Following the attack, bloodied Lau managed to call police saying he had been attacked and that his assailants had fled on a motorcycle.
He is now receiving treatment for multiple chop wounds at the Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan, where he is in a critical condition.
Doctors conducting surgery on Lau, 49, said on Wednesday he suffered six cuts, with the most serious injury sustained to his back.
The 16-centimetre-long wound was so deep it reached from his back through to his left chest cavity, severing “all the muscles” in between, said Dr Tang Chung-ngai, chief of service at the hospital’s surgery department.
“Luckily, his lung tissue, major blood vessels and diaphragm were undamaged,” said Tang.
Another 4cm-long cut on Lau’s back, close to his left shoulder, was a superficial one.
Lau received four other wounds, two each on the back of both thighs close to the knees, cutting his major nerves and muscles.
Chief Executive CY Leung and Secretary for Food and Health Dr Ko Wing-man leave the Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital. Photo: Dickson Lee
The two deeper wounds were 15cm-long, according to Tsang Wai-leuk, chief of service at the department of orthopaedics and traumatology.
Tsang said it was now too early to estimate whether Lau would fully recover the use of his legs and be able to walk as he did before.
Lau is currently in a critical condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit, requiring a respirator to breath.
Tang said the next 24 hours would be a “critical period” for Lau. “We have to monitor all the vital readings to see if there’s any change in his condition,” Tang said.
Chief executive Leung Chun-ying visited Lau and his family at about 5pm after Lau had undergone several rounds of surgery.
Leung said Lau could respond to him when he talked to Lau beside his bed.
He said he had been friends with Lau for more than 20 years when Lau was still a debate team member at the University of Hong Kong while Leung was the judge of debating competitions.
He added that he had called the police commissioner Andy Tsang Wai-hung to urge his officers to try their utmost to investigate the case.
Being asked if Hong Kong is still a safe place for journalists, Leung said: “Hong Kong is a safe place for everyone ... it is also a law-abiding city.”
But Leung did not speculate why Lau was attacked or wheather it was related to the reports MingPao did on state leaders’ hidden assets.
Last month, Lau was ousted as chief editor of Ming Pao, sparking a debate over censorship at one of Hong Kong's biggest newspapers.
He was replaced by Chong Tien-siong, the former chief editor of Malaysia's Nanyang Siang Pau. His removal triggered a public row between staff and Ming Pao management.
Police, who are seeking two men in connection with the attack, say Lau was ambushed in Tai Hong Street near the Sai Wan Ho Harbour Park shortly before 10.30am. It is understood Lau usually had breakfast in one of the restaurants in the area before going to work.
One man attacked him and was then picked up by a motorcycle ridden by the second man.
Vivian Chan Pik-kwan, wife of former Ming Pao chief editor Kevin Lau Chun-to, arrives at the hospital in Chai Wan. Photo: Dickson Lee
Today, his wife Vivien Chan Pik-kwan confirmed the attack over the phone. “Police told me that he suffered three knife wounds in the back and leg,” she said.
Police have yet to issue detailed descriptions of the attackers. However, officers are understood to have set up roadblocks in an effort to track them down.
“The victim called police [saying] that he had been chopped and his attacker [had] fled on a motorcycle,” a police spokeswoman said.
She said he was conscious when taken to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan for treatment.
At 11.30am, police had cordoned a section of Tai Hong Street as officers were searching for evidence.
Another team of crime-squad officers attended the hospital to wait to take a statement from Lau.
Officers interviewed nearby restaurants staff and shop tenants.
Several staff members of a Thai restaurant said they saw a man lying down on the road on the opposite side of the restaurant, but they did not see the attack.
"I saw a person lying down, I thought he had a heart attack. More than 10 passersby surrounded him," said Isaac Kwok, a kitchen staff at the restaurant.
A young man had already called the police by that time and he went back to work.
Police hope the restaurant’s CCTV camera, which will be handed over to investigating officers, might have recorded the attack.
Some have suggested the chopping was related to Lau's work, and have called it an attack on press freedom. However, Ming Pao's editorial director Cheung Kin-por said he did not believe the attack was related to investigative reports the paper had published regarding state leaders' hidden assets or to press freedom.
Police investigate the scene of the attack on Tai Hong Street, Sai Wan Ho. Photo: SCMP Pictures
He said he met Lau on Tuesday, but Lau had not told him of anything suspicious and had not mentioned receiving any threats. Cheung said as far as he knew Lau did not visit the restaurant for breakfast every day, though he did often go there.
A Hong Kong Journalists Association official statement expressed shock and outrage: “Journalists consider the incident a serious provocation to the Hong Kong press and freedom of expression.” The association reiterated that press freedom is a core value of Hong Kong’s success as a free and open society, and said they will not tolerate any form of threat of violence against journalists morale.
“HKJA urges the authorities to pursue his attackers and those malignant forces behind them without fear or favour. The attackers must be brought to justice as quickly as possible to allay public fears.”
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club Hong Kong also issued a statement, saying it was shocked by the news. “We urge the Hong Kong police to treat the incident with the utmost urgency, and to find and prosecute the culprits.
"The Club reiterates its view that the growing number of attacks against members of the press in Hong Kong needs to be taken seriously by the local administration. Hong Kong’s reputation as a free and international city will suffer if such crimes go unsolved and unpunished.
“Our thoughts are with Mr Lau and his family.”
A source from the hospital said Lau, now an online content chief at Ming Pao’s parent company Media Chinese International, is currently in critical condition, as “some vital organs” had been wounded in the attack. He is currently undergoing an urgent operation that is expected to take several hours.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and two ministers "strongly condemned' the assault.
In a media statement, Leung said “The SAR government and myself are very concerned about the incident, feel indignant about such an act of violence, and we strongly reprimand it.
"Hong Kong is a society of the rule of law, and we are absolutely intolerant about violence of this kind. The police will investigate comprehensively, and I also call on [residents] to provide information to the police on this case immediately, so that we can arrest the culprit responsible.”
After attending the Legislative Council’s session on the government budget, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor also said she was "shocked and distressed" by the incident. “Such assaults [like] this should be reprimanded by the entire society.”
Lai Tung-kwok, the security minister, said the police’s serious crime unit is investigating on the case “from all angles”.
Police tape seals off the crime scene at Tai Hong Street, Sai Wan Ho. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Lau was replaced as chief editor days after Ming Pao fell to third place out of 22 newspapers in a survey on media credibility by Chinese University.
Reporters and editors at the 55-year-old daily condemned the management's decision and the subsequent hiring of Chong Tien Siong, which was widely seen as a threat to the Chinese-language newspaper's editorial independence.
Several mothers who live in Lei King Wan said such an attack was very rare in this area.
They said they were not particularly worried because they believed this was a targeted attack.
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