VLC SCMP Corner

'I hate HK so much, but I have to return'

Saturday, February 24, 2001

CHRIS WONG

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Friends and relatives of wrongly jailed teenager Lin Qiaoying began to her when of involvement in people smuggling were levelled against her following her release from prison, she claimed in an interview with the Post.

She was speaking shortly before leaving Hong Kong in early February at the end of her marathon against part-time interpreter Wong Kin-ang, 45, and immigration assistant Wong Chui-kam, 28, who were yesterday of perverting the course of justice.

In the interview, Ms Lin insisted she would continue to press for compensation from the Hong Kong Government whatever the outcome of the trial.

"I hate Hong Kong so much, but I have to return because I have suffered too much," she said, claiming that although her conviction had been , she had been snubbed by friends and relatives.

"Some of our friends and the Fuzhou natives in the United States started to distance themselves from us," she said. "My family was ."

Her elder brother, Lin Youtong, 22, who accompanied her throughout the trial, said firmly: "Money is not our consideration. We are not afraid of of us being involved in people-smuggling. I can only say we are innocent."

The teenager said she would never forget the she had gone through while being detained in prison for two months and three days for possession of a passport that later proved genuine.

"I remember I had so many sleepless nights in prison and I had to take cold baths during the winter," she said.

Lin Qiaoying said her family became and had frantically searched for her while she was in . Her parents even rushed to the Chinese Consulate in New York to ask if it had issued their daughter a passport, she said.

The grade 10 student said the SAR Government should be held responsible for the mess it had caused. When asked why she throw a Bible and documents on to the floor in court, she said she was not afraid of anything after being in prison.

I was by [defence lawyer Neville Sarony SC]. I'm not afraid of going back to prison again. He asked me what is the colour of a New York taxi. It's a stupid question. It is impossible that people staying in New York would not have known the colour of a taxi."

She said the name Chan Lai-na, the identity she was forced to assume while being questioned by immigration officers, was her classmate in a private English tutoring institution in New York. She said she was glad Ms Chan was not mad with her.

"When [Ms Chan] learned about the incident, she joked with me that she could not go to Hong Kong in future as she would be mistaken for Lin Qiaoying."

The teenager, who emigrated with her family to New Jersey in 1995, admitted her English was not good, but insisted it was good enough for daily communication. Her level of English was attacked by Mr Sarony in his attempts to show she was not a witness.

After all she had gone through, Ms Lin said she just wanted to go back to school. "I hope everything will return to normal when this is all over," she said.