April 24, 2012

To whom it may concern  

Re:  ….   No. ….   

I have visited Mr … almost every week since he entered (Detention Centre) in November, 2011.  
Previously I knew him, though not very well, in the Jordan area, where handicapped beggars from the Mainland stay (in an apartment near corner of Jordan Rd and Nathan Rd ).

I have tried to get to know some of these people, have had meals with them, and once had some of them as visitors to my home in Temple Street .  See photos

These people are being recruited and used by a gang (Mainland?, HK?).
Such use of handicapped people reminds me of the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”

Mr … is a victim of this gang. When he was involved in the “assisting to arrest” case,
he was following directions from the gang to help the man in trouble. His crime: he provided a wheelchair for a fellow victim. For this he has been incarcerated since November last year.

Mr…’s background: he was badly burnt in a fire in Sichaun in 1989. His first wife died in that fire. He has since remarried and has two children aged 12 and 5 in Sichuan .  

Offenders should be punished, yes. Mainland beggars should be discouraged from coming to Hong Kong , yes. But surely the punishment of handicapped people falls into a special case, especially when they have been used by gangs.

Am I in 2012 Hong Kong or in 1950 Stalinist Russia ?   

Thank you for your kind and compassionate processing of ….’s case.  

Yours sincerely  

Fr. John Wotherspoon       胡 頌 恆 神 父       CSD chaplain no. 51       I.D. K244926(9)      jdwomi@gmail.com          Ph: 67095674                     www.jesustower.com