Two men appeared in court today over their alleged involvement with an attack on pro-democracy activist Jimmy Sham at a restaurant in August.
Sham and his friend were having lunch in Jordan on Aug. 29 when they were ambushed by two masked men carrying a baseball bat and a metal rod. Sham was uninjured, but his friend was taken to hospital after sustaining two serious bruises to his left arm.
According to on.cc, police later arrested two people accused of manning the getaway car — a teenager surnamed Ho, and 29-year-old named Lo Kin-wa — and charged them with conspiracy to commit assault occasioning actual bodily harm, forgery of documents contrary to the Road Traffic Ordinance, and using a vehicle without third-party insurance.
The outlet reports that the duo had to have their cases heard separately in different courts — Ho in a juvenile court, and Lo in Kowloon City Magistrates’ Court — as Ho was 15-years-old at the time of his arrest. Under the Juvenile Offenders’ Ordinance, offenders under the age of 16 have to be tried in the juvenile court.
Today, however, the prosecution applied to have the two cases merged so that they can be heard in the same court as Ho is now 16, and can be tried as an adult. Ho remains out on bail, while Lo was remanded in custody. The case has been adjourned until Nov. 26.
According to HK01, the duo allegedly conspired with unnamed people between Aug. 23 and Aug. 29 to harm Sham.
The outlet reports that Ho and Lo are accused of using a stolen white Toyota to drop off the two actual attackers outside the restaurant in Jordan on the day in question. The attackers then got back into the car afterwards and all four fled the scene.
Police later arrested Ho and Lo after receiving a report about the vehicle and finding CCTV footage of them in the area.
Sham is the convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front — the organization behind several massive rallies in recent months — and is also a candidate running in the upcoming district councillor elections.
Though Sham escaped the August attack unscathed, he was badly injured in another attack last month by masked, hammer-wielding men.
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