Hong Kong court acquits ex-auxiliary officer of wife assault

A Hong Kong magistrate has acquitted Adnan Mohammad, a former auxiliary police officer, of assaulting his wife at their home in 2025. Magistrate Claudia Ng Cheuk-hwa ruled on Thursday that the prosecution failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt, citing significant contradictions in the testimony of the complainant, Shazia Parveen. The alleged incident occurred on July 20, 2025, at the couple's flat in Wong Tai Sin, where Parveen claimed Mohammad hit her arms and pushed her onto a sofa during an argument over childcare. She said she had asked her husband to care for their crying baby, but he refused.

Parveen initially testified that no one else was in the flat during the alleged assault, but later admitted that Mohammad's brother had been sleeping there at the time. Magistrate Ng said Parveen had given contradictory evidence and had not told the "whole truth." The court concluded it could not "safely determine what had really happened" between the couple. Parveen, who came to Hong Kong from Pakistan in 2024 after an arranged marriage two years earlier, had alleged the attack occurred after Mohammad refused to help with their baby. The acquittal highlights the challenges of prosecuting domestic violence cases when witness testimony is inconsistent.