Amina Bokhary found dead at Hong Kong home: source

A Hong Kong woman who made tabloid headlines for her repeated brushes with the law and prominent family name has been found dead in her home, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source told SCMP on Saturday that a 90-year-old woman surnamed Bokhary had reported to police the day before that her daughter had lost consciousness at home. The younger woman, believed to be in her forties, was certified dead at the scene. The insider identified her as Amina Mariam Bokhary. “Police checks on the deceased body and family conditions did not show any suspicious circumstances. The case has been listed as a body discovery,” the source said. She was the niece of Kemal Bokhary, a non-permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal, and former Executive Council member Ronald Arculli. The source said Bokhary had contacted her family doctor on Friday morning after feeling unwell, but had declined to seek further medical help. “The family doctor was concerned about her situation, and therefore called the police. However, when paramedics and fire officers arrived to urge the deceased to seek treatment, the deceased had adamantly refused,” the source said. The source said Bokhary had a history of heart disease and had been monitored by her family doctor. Shortly before 5pm that day, Bokhary’s mother discovered her daughter unconscious at home. She was pronounced dead soon after. In the past, Bokhary was frequently in the spotlight for run-ins with the police, including assaulting officers and driving offences. She was spared jail by magistrates in three assault cases between 2002 and 2010, sparking a public outcry and accusations that courts showed leniency to well-connected defendants. In 2010, she slapped an officer while refusing to take a breathalyser test after an accident on Stubbs Road. Two years before that, Bokhary was ordered to perform 240 hours of community service and fined HK$1,000 for assaulting a policewoman and a taxi driver. In 2002, she was fined HK$9,000 for assaulting a policeman and damaging a spotlight outside a Central bar. She was sentenced to six weeks in jail for breaking probation conditions following her case in 2010, and was released after serving two-thirds of her sentence. In 2019, Bokhary was once again sentenced to six weeks behind bars for driving illegally. However, later in the same year, she avoided another jail sentence for possessing cocaine as she was sentenced to 12 months of probation instead.