It started in court and, unsurprisingly, ended up in court. A 54-year-old renovation worker was yesterday sentenced to 16 months in jail for taking out a knife during a High Court hearing last year.
Yu Zhulin was convicted of criminal damage after he turned up at the High Court last October with the blade, entered a hearing presided by judge Wilson Chan Ka-shun and, well, made a scene.
The court heard Yu slammed the knife on a table in front of Chan and threatened to kill him, though, it was noted, the defendant made the threat after the judge had left the room.
The episode was sparked because Chan had rejected a claim filed by Yu in 2013 for compensation from police for injuries he sustained during an earlier arrest.
Following multiple rounds of appeals, he brought the knife to court on October 17, shortly after the court rejected his final bid for compensation, a rejection which included an order for him to pay HK$13,175 (US$1,680) in court costs.
The outburst triggered a city-wide manhunt, and Yu turned himself in later that day.
In mitigating remarks made before the District Court yesterday, Yu said he was hoping for a lenient sentence, RTHK reported.
He told the court he had been married three times, is supporting his two children and elderly parents who are in their 90s, and was in a lot of debt.
According to Apple Daily, he has a 2-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old step son with his third wife, who lives in the mainland.
The judge criticised Yu for acting recklessly, but accepted Yu’s testimony that he was planning on using the knife to kill himself at the time and no one else.
The judge found Yu not guilty of both criminal intimidation and possessing an offensive weapon because the knife was still wrapped in plastic, and that when Yu initially threatened to kill Chan, the judge had already left the room.
The court also rejected Yu’s request to get his kitchen knife back.
