Hong Kong man charged over online comments after police stabbing did not intend to incite violence, court hears
Hong Kong Free Press
A Hong Kong man charged over anonymous comments posted in an online forum following an attempted murder-suicide against a policeman did not intend to incite people to wound officers, a court has heard.
Yung Cheong-ming, who last August pleaded not guilty to the incitement charge, appeared before Deputy District Judge Amy Chan at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Monday.
Yung’s charge of inciting others to wound with intent related to an incident on July 1, 2021, when a man stabbed a police officer before taking his own life, on the anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to mainland China. The officer survived, sustaining injuries to his left shoulder blade.
Yung posted comments in online forum LIHKG allegedly inciting violence against police officers after the news of the attempted murder-suicide broke that evening, according to case details presented in court on Monday.
No intention, defence argues
Evidence presented to the court showed Yung had made comments including: “Fucking stab his father and mother to death.” A separate comment read: “Next time, stab where the small intestines are, in the centre of the body.”
Screenshots of Yung’s comments were made in February and March in 2022 by a detective from the police cybercrimes unit.
Yung’s remarks amounted to incitement to wound with intent, said barrister Timmy Yip, a private lawyer acting for the prosecution.
See also: Hong Kong man jailed for 5 months over Facebook comments about stabbing police chief
Yip told the court that Yung’s comments, under the context of social unrest and the attempted murder-suicide, as well as LIHKG users’ reception of Yung’s comments, were capable of inciting others to “unlawfully and maliciously” injure a police officer.
Case details also indicated that Yung was interviewed by police following his arrest in March 2022, during which he admitted to making the comments on the forum.
Yung said he had been influenced by anti-police sentiment at the time and did not stop to think of the consequences, adding that he chose to post on LIHKG under the guise of anonymity.
The defence said on Monday that while it would not dispute the fact that Yung had made the comments, it would argue that he had no intention to incite others to wound with intent, and that his online remarks did not amount to incitement.
Cybercrime investigation
The prosecution on Monday called two witnesses to testify, both of whom were police detectives involved in the investigation regarding Yung’s online remarks.
One detective from the police cybercrimes unit, surnamed Lam, testified as an expert witness to answer questions regarding the functions of the online forum.
Responding to questions posed by the defence as to Yung’s comments being unavailable on the original forum post, Lam said members’ comments would be automatically removed if their profiles were deleted.
The detective also told the court that while the thread did not make it onto the “hot” page on LIHKG in February 2022, when the first batch of screenshots were made by the police, there was a “very good chance” that it had at the time of the stabbing in 2021.
Judge Chan adjourned the hearing to Tuesday morning to view a video recording of Yung’s police interview in full.
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