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The judgment noted that at approximately 3:45 pm on 29 September 2019, the three defendants gathered with dozens of other black-clad protesters outside the Central Government Offices in Admiralty. During that time, petrol bombs, bricks and other hard objects were thrown, and the police lines were repeatedly assaulted. The police deployed a water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, and between about 4:45 and 5:00 pm broke through the lines in groups to arrest participants. Based on CCTV and publicly available video recordings (Exhibits P57–P66), photographs and screenshots taken by officers (Exhibits P67–P69), firsthand testimony from six police officers (PW1–PW6), and the discovery of protective helmets, goggles, gas masks, gloves, backpacks and umbrellas on the defendants at North Point Police Station, Queen Mary Hospital and around the government headquarters, the prosecution alleged that the three resisted arrest during the dispersal operation and were liable under the principle of extended joint enterprise. The three denied participating in a riot, and the defence argued that they were only bystanders or had not heard police orders amid the noisy environment. However, the court found that their equipment, defensive and resistant actions, time and place of arrest, and chain of evidence supported the only reasonable inference that they participated in an unlawful assembly which escalated into a riot, and convicted them accordingly.
Under Section 21 of the Public Order Ordinance, the offence of riot carries a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment; the judge considered the Court of Final Appeal’s principle of participation and sentencing guidelines for unlawful assembly and riot set out in the Lu and Tang case.
At the scene, the three defendants were equipped with various protective items and suspected offensive tools. During the police dispersal operation they failed to comply with orders and resisted arrest. Their conduct was consistent with witness testimony and video recordings, proving their active participation in the riot.
The judge held that the three were not mere bystanders; their attire and conduct indicated participation in a riot that disrupted public order. The prosecution witnesses were credible and were not effectively undermined by the defence.
All three defendants were convicted of riot. (Translated from Chinese to English by AI)
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判刑理由書撮要(由AI生成)
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The judgment states that on the afternoon of 29 September 2019, a large-scale riot occurred outside the Government Headquarters on Harcourt Road in the Central District. Protesters hurled bricks, petrol bombs and other objects in a fierce attack on the police. The three defendants were arrested nearby and all denied involvement, claiming they were merely passing by or observing. After trial, all three were found guilty of rioting. The court requested background reports, adjourned sentencing for the first defendant to 20 June for reason stated, and proceeded today with sentencing of the second and third defendants.
In accordance with the maximum penalty of ten years for rioting and the Court of Appeal’s guiding considerations in cases such as the Leung Tin-kei case, including the number of participants, degree of violence, symbolic significance of the target, duration and the role of the defendant.
In this case, the scale of the riot was large, it targeted the core symbol of the Government Headquarters, the violence was severe and the defendants showed no remorse or any substantial grounds for leniency. Their conduct supported and encouraged the riot, requiring a clear deterrent effect, hence starting the sentence at four and a half years.
The judge considered that the anti-riot equipment and attire carried by the defendants demonstrated an intention to participate, and their claim of being bystanders lacked sincerity; the riot scene resembled a battlefield, causing significant disruption to social order, necessitating severe punishment to uphold the rule of law and public safety.
The court sentences each defendant to four and a half years’ imprisonment for rioting. (Translated from Chinese to English by AI)
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