Protester who assaulted Hong Kong policeman with her breast jailed for 3½ months
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 30 July, 2015, 1:33pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 30 July, 2015, 8:09pm
Chris Lau [email protected]
Kwong Chun-lung (left) and his girfriend Ng Lai-ying appear at Tuen Mun Court on Thursday. Ng Lai-ying was earlier convicted of assaulting a police officer with her breast. Photo: K.Y. ChengA Hong Kong magistrate today sentenced a woman earlier convicted of assaulting a chief police officer with her breast at an anti-parallel trade protest to three months and 15 days in jail, saying he had to make the public aware it was not a “trivial matter”.
Sentencing protester Ng Lai-ying, Deputy Magistrate Michael Chan Pik-kiu told a court packed with her supporters: “If I do not hand down a deterring sentence, the public might mistakenly think it is a trivial matter to assault police officers during protests.”
But Ng, along with her three co-defendants, was granted bail pending an appeal. The defendants gasped as they learned they would be released for the first time since they were remanded in custody two weeks ago.
Chan convicted Ng, 30, earlier of using her breast to bump against chief police inspector Chan Ka-po at a protest in Yuen Long on March 1.
The magistrate, who earlier said Ng’s case was serious in that she counter-accused the police inspector of indecent assault, today revealed he had received threats since the verdict.
He initially sentenced Ng to four months in prison, but reduced the sentence by half a month, noting Ng’s “positive, good character”.
A 14-year-old boy, who was also convicted of assaulting the same police inspector, was sentenced to a rehabilitation centre. The boy’s identity cannot be disclosed as he is a minor.
Ng’s boyfriend Kwong Chun-lung, 20, was sentenced to a training centre, while Poon Tsz-hang, 22, was given five months and one week in jail, after both were convicted of obstructing a police officer.
Sentencing Poon, who was found to have dragged a suspect away from officers on the day, the magistrate reiterated that police played a key role in maintaining order during public events.
“Acts like this would only make their jobs harder,” he said.
