A pro-democracy activist facing an assault charge for lobbing a tuna sandwich at the city’s former chief executive said his target’s “very smug” expression had prompted him to hurl the smelly snack, which ultimately missed and hit a police officer.
Testifying today, the accused, Avery Ng Man-yuen, said he had intended to present the sandwich to former Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying as a stunt to highlight the plight of the city’s elderly poor, the SCMP reported.
However after locking eyes with Leung, who was on his way to vote at a polling station during last September’s legislative elections, Ng said he let fly with the fish sandwich, which the ex-city leader managed to duck, a move the defendant called a “spineless” evasion.
“I can describe his facial expression at that time as very smug,” Ng, 40, told the court. “He kept raising his eyebrows, raised his head slightly and protruded his lower lip. It was like he was saying: ‘Bring it on.’
“That was the message I received at the time.”
Ng, of the League of Social Democrats, has denied one charge of common assault on the police officer, Lau Wing-kwan, who was walking behind Leung and on Tuesday at court recalled being struck by something “wet and soft”.
According to the SCMP, Ng, who ran as a candidate in the election, told the court he did not intend to hit the police officer and believed Leung would catch it.
“I never thought I would miss the target, because I’ve been pretty accurate in throwing stuff,” he said, the newspaper reported. “It’s one of my skills developed from childhood.”
Ng told the court he brought two sandwiches to the polling booth: one for lunch and another filled with tuna for the stunt, which was supposed to highlight poverty among the elderly, as they can hardly afford a sandwich.
He testified that he did not like tuna and denied an assertion by the prosecution that he made up the details of Leung’s facial expressions and had thrown the sandwich without regard for people’s safety.
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