District councillor denies assault on Hong Kong lawmaker
A Hong Kong district councillor yesterday denied assaulting a lawmaker on her own patch last year, as she made a brief court appearance.
Accompanied by her godfather, and veteran actor, Bowie Wu Fung, Sai Kung District Council member Christine Fong Kwok-shan, 49, told Kwun Tong Court she denied one count of common assault on Elizabeth Quat at The Beaumount in Tseung Kwan O on July 3 last year.
"I plead not guilty," she said, after she was read the charge in a brief court appearance. The court has yet to hear the specifics of the allegation.
However, Fong was told that seven prosecution witnesses would be called and that video exhibits would also be presented, according to the prosecutors.
Acting principal magistrate Don So Man-lung then adjourned the case to October 14 and reminded Fong not to interfere with the prosecution witnesses.
Outside court, Fong said the list of witnesses included various district councillors from Sai Kung, as well as Quat.
She said that, while sitting in the same work meetings with them was inevitable, she would not discuss the case with those witnesses.
She declined to comment further as the case had already entered legal proceedings.
Her godfather Wu said it was not his first time attending a court hearing and that he was there to support Fong, who was elected a district council member in Sai Kung in 2008 when she was still affiliated with the Liberal Party - which she left in 2010.
After serving her first term, she was re-elected in 2011 as an independent candidate.
A member of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, Quat has been a Legislative Council member since 2012.
She was also elected to the Sha Tin district council in 2008 and has been serving there since then.
