Trial told of burger break and ferry trip
The three men who met at a McDonald's restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui would have blended in with the throngs of sightseers who visit the tourist district every summer.
Half an hour after meeting on August 13, the trio were seen boarding the Star Ferry for Hong Kong Island. But this was no ordinary tourist jaunt, prosecutor Peter Chapman told the trial of Huang Nanhua, 50, in the Court of First Instance yesterday.
Soon after getting off the ferry, Huang was caught on a CCTV camera at a 7/Eleven store in North Point, just 70 metres from the Democratic Party's branch office in Java Road.
When the Shenzhen resident was arrested at a police roadblock the next evening he was carrying a list of addresses - all establishments visited by pro-democracy leader Martin Lee Chu-ming and tycoon publisher Jimmy Lai Chee-ying. That list was part of the evidence against Huang, 50, who has been accused of taking part in a plot to shoot Mr Lai and Mr Lee last summer.
Huang had been carrying a shoulder bag containing a gun and bullets. He has pleaded not guilty to carrying a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit an arrestable offence.
On the morning of August 13, Huang passed through the Lok Ma Chau border crossing into Hong Kong, a place he had visited often, Mr Chapman said. After arriving in Tsuen Wan by bus, Huang made his way to Sha Tin and then to the McDonald's outlet, by all accounts the trio's favoured meeting place.
The court also was told that as the three were crossing the harbour, another man named Chu Ying-wah was entering the city at Lok Ma Chau.
It heard that Huang met his self-confessed accomplice, Ho Wai-kam, during his two days in the city and a friend named Chan Yuk-por. At one point, Huang allegedly asked the latter to store his bag, which held bullets and a firearm, before he returned to Shenzhen.
Mr Chapman said witness testimony and phone records would shed light on the plan and how the men were connected to one another.
'There was a whole series of interactions between various persons who will be witnesses,' he added.
When Huang was arrested, police discovered that he had two mobile phones, HK$20,000 in HK$1,000 bills, Mr Lai's photograph and address and a list of four city restaurants where Mr Lai and Mr Lee dined together.
The trial continues today.
