A man who kissed pro-democracy lawmaker Tanya Chan as a protest was winding down last year was found not guilty of indecent assault on Monday.
The magistrate ruled that the testimonies of Chan and her colleague, who was with her when the incident happened, had “key contradictions and inconsistencies” with each other. Fan Ka-ho, 40, was cleared of the charge, Stand News reported.
On August 23 last year, as a human chain event concluded in Shau Kei Wan during which protesters joined hands to evoke the 1989 anti-Soviet “Baltic Way” demonstration, the lawmaker and a colleague were leaving for dinner.
As they waited to cross the street, Chan said she suddenly felt a “soft but dry” kiss on her right cheek. As Chan yelled “indecent assault,” attracting a small crowd, she and another female passerby tugged onto his clothes to stop him from fleeing. Fan knelt down and begged for mercy, repeating that he bumped into her unintentionally.
Another man knocked Fan to the ground, causing his tooth to fall out due to the impact of the fall, according to Stand News. Chan said she would call the police. He eventually broke off and was intercepted by police about a block away, leaving behind a shoe as he ran.
Magistrate Stephanie Tsui May-har ruled that the testimony presented by Chan and her colleague differed in their accounts of where Fan appeared and how Chan was touched, and that the evidence “failed to produce evidence to the point of unreasonable doubt.”
According to Fan, who is unemployed, the kiss was accidental contact—he said the bright lights from protesters’ phones and flashlights opposite blinded him, and as he was trying to move away from the direction of the light, he bumped into Chan and grazed the side of her face.
In a trial earlier this month, the prosecution expressed doubts on his claims, pointing out the protest had already ended by then, and that protesters were standing a considerable distance—four vehicle lanes—away from Fan.
