A man will spend Lunar New Year behind bars after admitting to chasing a group of anti-government protesters in Tung Chung with a knife in his hand.
Transport worker Choi Pei-tak, 45, was caught on camera running after a group of more than 20 protesters at the Yat Tung Estate bus terminus on Sept. 1. Hundreds of protesters had arrived in Tung Chung that day after attempting to stage a protest at the airport.
According to on.cc, Choi told the court that protesters threw plastic bottles at his friends, prompting him to brandish the knife.
Ming Pao reports that Choi had pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, and that in a mitigating statement to the court, he claimed he had since been targeted by protesters, with words such as “murderer” and “knife” spray-painted outside his apartment.
During his sentencing at Western Kowloon Magistrates Court on Wednesday afternoon, Magistrate Winnie Lau said that if Choi had any grievances, he should have called the police instead of resorting to force.
She added that the knife Choi used was a lethal weapon, and it was pure luck that no one was hurt given that there were a lot of people in the area at the time.
Taking into account Choi’s guilty plea, and the fact that he expressed remorse, Lau said she still needed to hand down a deterrent jail sentence, handing Choi a slightly reduced jail term of nine months.
Under the Public Order Ordinance, the maximum jail sentence for possession of an offensive weapon in a public place is three years behind bars.
