A 53 year-old mainland man was arrested for criminal intimidation after wielding a kitchen knife and shouting at a judge at the High Court yesterday morning, in what he conceded was a “really impulsive” response to losing a case earlier in the day.
Yu Zhulin turned himself in at Wan Chai police station yesterday evening after admitting to Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting that he was the man who took out a vegetable knife in the courtroom yesterday.
Before entering the police building, Yu told journalists: “I am very sorry for my behaviour this morning. It was impulsive, really impulsive thing to do to the judge. I am really sorry, I will now surrender”.
He told reporters that the kitchen knife in the incident belonged to him and was used to cut vegetables at home.
Lam, who accompanied Yu to the police station, told reporters that the episode came about after Yu suffered a court defeat earlier that day marking the end of a long-running court battle.
Online outlet on.cc reported that police arrested Yu just before 9:30pm last night, and went to his home in Fanling at 11pm, where they recovered the knife and the clothes he was wearing that day.
Yesterday morning, Yu went into the public gallery of courtroom number 13 on the seventh floor of the building. He then took out an eight inch-long and five inch-wide vegetable knife from his backpack and yelled in Mandarin “Lawless! Did you think I wouldn’t be able to find you?”
The case in session at the time was being overseen by judge Wilson Chan Ka-shun. After Yu took out the knife, the judge adjourned proceedings, and police were alerted. Dozens of police officers searched the building twice but could not find the suspect.
No one was injured during the incident.
According to the SCMP, Yu headed to Sheung Shui, about 50 minutes away from the High Court by car, where he went to Lam’s office to ask staff for help with a long-running court battle, but did not mention the knife incident.
Lam told reporters he was not in the office at the time, so his staff gave Yu some information and sent him away. Yu later confirmed he was the “knife man” after a staff member was watching the news and noticed that he fit the police description. They asked him to return to the office and together they went to the the Legislative Council building to meet Lam.
According to Apple Daily, Yu appeared before judge Chan in 2013 after he lodged a civil suit against the police commissioner and three police officers whom he accused of assaulting him in Fanling in 2008.
Chan ruled against him and later denied Yu’s request for permission to appeal to a higher court. He later won the right to appeal on technical grounds and the Court of Appeal sent the trial back to the District Court. Yu lost that case and appealed one more time.
He went to the the third floor of the High Court at 9:30am yesterday to receive the latest judgment from the Court of Appeal. He lost that appeal and was ordered to pay HK$13,175 (US$1,687) in court costs.
Thirty minutes later, he showed up with the knife.
Reader Interactions