Hong Kong man convicted for inciting violence over online comments made after 2021 police stabbing
Hong Kong Free Press
A Hong Kong man has been found guilty of inciting others to wound over online comments made after a knife attack on a police officer three years ago.
Deputy District Judge Amy Chan convicted Yung Cheong-ming at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on Friday.
Yung’s comments, which he posted on online forum LIHKG, related to an incident on July 1, 2021, the anniversary of Hong Kong’s Handover to China, when a man stabbed a police officer before taking his own life. The officer survived, sustaining injuries to his left shoulder.
Among Yung’s posts, left after the news of the incident broke that evening, included: “Fucking stab his father and mother to death,” and “Next time, stab where the small intestines are, in the centre of the body.”
‘No other interpretation’
Chan on Friday found Yung’s testimony to have been inconsistent, noting that he had admitted under police caution that he was happy the police officer had been stabbed but testified in court that he was simply “eating peanuts” – Cantonese slang for watching something play out from the side lines.
In her Chinese-language judgement, Chan ruled that there could be no other interpretation of Yung’s LIHKG comments beyond what he had said in the police interview, rejecting the defence’s argument that Yung did not intend to incite violence.
Timmy Yip, a private lawyer acting for the prosecution, had earlier told the court that Yung’s comments, under the context of social unrest and the violent incident, were capable of inciting others to “unlawfully and maliciously” injure a police officer.
Chan also noted that Yung said in the police interview that he considered what he commented on the forum, pointing to his remarks about how to kill or maximise injuries against the police officer in the handover anniversary stabbing.
The fact that Yung did not think he could have possibly incited someone to commit a violent act against a police officer was not a legitimate defence, the judge ruled, adding that she believed there was a real possibility that someone could have been incited amid the “anti-police sentiment” at the time.
2022 acquittal inapplicable
The defence earlier cited a 2022 District Court decision to acquit a chauffeur of inciting others to attack police officers, in which judge Douglas Yau ruled that he was simply venting his anger.
But Chan rejected that argument, ruling that the 2022 decision had “extremely limited” referential value, as the message was sent to a private WhatsApp group instead of on a public forum like LIHKG.
Chan adjourned Yung’s mitigation hearing to November 1, when the prosecution will make submissions regarding similar incitement cases.
Yung’s case was tried as a District Court case, where the maximum sentence handed out is capped at seven years, though hearings have been conducted at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building.
| 💡If you are in need of support, please call: The Samaritans 2896 0000 (24-hour, multilingual), Suicide Prevention Centre 2382 0000 or the government mental health hotline on 18111. The Hong Kong Society of Counselling and Psychology provides a WhatsApp hotline in English and Chinese: 6218 1084. See also: HKFP’s comprehensive guide to mental health services in Hong Kong. |
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