A golf coach has been spared jailed for grabbing a protester by the neck and hitting him in the old club and balls at the Fanling golf course .
Tong Chun-po received a four-week suspended sentence after earlier pleading guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm related to his roughhousing of the demonstrator, who was hit in the privates and pushed to the ground during the confrontation, reported Ming Pao.
Caught on camera, the attack in April occurred after more than 10 members of the Labour Party hijacked a press conference by the Hong Kong Alliance of Golfers, who were discussing plans to promote the game.
The protesters were calling on the government to take back control of the land and use it to help alleviate the city’s housing shortage.
According to RTHK, the magistrate, in sentencing Tong, said a suspended sentence was “appropriate” as the defendant had pleaded guilty and shown remorse.
In mitigation, a lawyer for Tong said his client had been “blinded by rage” when he lashed out.
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