As the sandwich — later identified as containing pungent tuna — hurdled towards him, CY Leung was scared, the former Hong Kong chief executive admitted in court on Wednesday, according to a report.
Leung yesterday appeared as a witness during the second day of an “assault” case brought against pro-democracy activist Avery Ng Man-yuen, whose lobbed snack-turned-missile hit a police officer after missing the ex-city leader, its intended target.
According to a report by Radio Television Hong Kong, Leung told West Kowloon magistrates’ court that he had become more wary in public since a glass was hurled towards him in the legislature in 2014, fearing people were becoming more radical.
Leung said he did not see the defendant on the day of the fish sandwich fiasco in September last year as he walked quickly towards a Mid Levels polling station to vote in the legislative elections.
When he spotted the rogue hoagie flying towards him, the former chief executive said he naturally ducked, not thinking it would hit someone else.
Ng, who questioned Leung himself, told the court on Tuesday that he and Leung had “locked eyes” and that his target’s “very smug face” had prompted him to let fly with the grub.
RTHK reported that Ng, chairman of the League of Social Democrats, requested to treat the former chief executive as a hostile witness, calling him untrustworthy. The request was denied.
The defendant, who said he expected Leung to catch the sandwich — which he said he threw as a stunt to highlight the plight of the city’s elderly poor, has denied one count of common assault.
He said he didn’t intend to hit the policemen Lau Wing-kwan, who told the court on Tuesday the incident left him with a stained uniform.
The case was adjourned until October 12.
