Hong Kong - Hong Kong's most famous gangster, who is paralysed and confined to a wheelchair, appeared in court Thursday charged with assaulting a prison warder.

Yip Kai-foon, 47, serving a 36-year jail term for robbing jewellery shops with an AK-47 rifle in the 1980s and 1990s, is accused of injuring the officer on April 30.

Yip, nicknamed "King of Thieves" and once Hong Kong's most feared gangster, appeared in court in a special bed and refused a lawyer.

No details were given of how Yip, who was crippled in a shoot-out with police in 1996, allegedly injured the officer. No plea was taken and the case was adjourned until July 23.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Yip stole an estimated 2.5 million US dollars worth of gems in a series of spectacular armed raids on jewellery shops and escaped from custody and jail several times.

Yip has been in trouble while in jail before. Last year, he was punished for keeping an illicit stash of sweets, peanuts and cigarettes given to him by fellow inmates at Hong Kong's Stanley Prison.(dpa)