HK jury faults PHL for hostages' deaths

(Updated 7:22 p.m.) A Hong Kong jury on Wednesday ruled the deaths of eight Hong Kong tourists killed in last year's Manila hostage crisis as "unlawful" — with the Philippine government's botched rescue operation playing a part in it. In English law, which is the framework of Hong Kong’s law, unlawful killing is a verdict that means a death was caused by another person without lawful excuse and in breach of the criminal law — in other words homicide. The jury raised at least four points that contributed to the death of the eight last Aug. 23, according to a report in Radio Television Hong Kong. Killed along with the eight was the hostage-taker, dismissed policeman Rolando Mendoza. According to the RTHK report, the jury noted four possible shortcomings of Philippine authorities in its findings:

Philippine authorities had failed to handle the demands of gunman Mendoza, which were the dropping of charges against him and his reinstatement in the police force, in a timely and appropriate manner;

Negotiations only broke down because the police "lied" to the hostage-taker;

The decision to arrest Mendoza's brother Gregorio had infuriated Rolando and triggered the deadly attack;

The victims were deprived of immediate emergency treatment by the failed hour-long rescue operation mounted by SWAT teams. Earlier, Coroner Michael Chan told the jurors that the only option open to them was a verdict of unlawful killing. But if they could not reach this conclusion beyond reasonable doubt, he said they would have to return an open verdict. Relatives of the victims said they are preparing to pursue their own charges against Philippine officials whom they accused of bungling the case. The family of slain tour guide Masa Tse Ting-chunn said they could not expect the court to give a full decision because Philippine witnesses were not available at the inquest to give a full picture of what happened. A total of 41 witnesses — most of them survivors or experts from Hong Kong and Manila — have been heard, and 170 items of evidence included autopsy reports, bullet fragments and a model of the tour bus. In his summary, Chan said the eight deaths have been attributed to high velocity bullets from an assault rifle, though two people could have survived if treated in a timely manner by Philippine rescuers. - KBK, GMA News