判決理由書／裁決書撮要(由AI生成)
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The judgment states that on the evening of 31 August 2019, a large-scale riot broke out around 1 Hennessy Road and the Luya Road area on Hong Kong Island. Protesters built roadblocks with debris, set fires and threw petrol bombs. The police used water cannon vehicles and multiple lines of defence to disperse the crowd and arrested eight defendants. The fourth defendant was also charged with possession of petrol bombs and telescopic batons and other offensive weapons. All defendants denied the charges, and the prosecution and defence engaged in disputes over witness credibility and identification from footage.
The prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant participated in the riot or possessed weapons; identification evidence from lay witnesses must be supported by objective corroboration, and the court must guard against drawing conclusions based solely on clothing or partial footage.
The police officers’ testimony was in many respects inconsistent with video recordings and internally contradictory; the methods of identification carried a high degree of risk; there was a lack of evidence showing the defendants’ concrete involvement in the actions or joint disturbance of the peace before their arrest, and the prosecution failed to eliminate reasonable doubt.
It was emphasised that mere presence at the scene, wearing black clothing and fleeing cannot suffice to infer guilt; the officers’ records omitted important details and their later supplementary testimony undermined their credibility, and were therefore not to be relied upon.
It was adjudged that the eight defendants were not guilty of the riot and possession of offensive weapons charges, and they were all acquitted. (Translated from Chinese to English by AI)
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