TWO unemployed men were yesterday sentenced to two months' jail after Western Court ruled they were at the forefront of violence which broke out when a 500-strong procession petitioned the Governor to let mainland wives into Hongkong. Magistrate Mr Hugh Sinclair found Cheng Kwok-wah, 42, and Wong Man-ho, 38, each guilty of one count of assaulting a police officer and one count of unlawful assembly. He told the defendants that the procession, which took place on July 12 last year from Wan Chai to Government House, turned into a mob which ''from all appearances was not so much interested in presenting an informal petition as standing against the police''. He added: ''I have no doubt that many in the procession would have been sucked into the vortex of excitement. ''In so far as those two instances were concerned of which you have been convicted, you were creating that vortex by your own examples.'' Cheng had pleaded not guilty to six summonses of assaulting a police officer and to one count of taking part in unlawful assembly. Wong had denied one count of assaulting a police officer and one count of taking part in unlawful assembly. The case against a third defendant, Chan Mei-wah, 43, who has pleaded not guilty to one count of taking part in unlawful assembly, has been adjourned until April 23 because he is suffering from liver cancer and requires medical treatment. Mr Sinclair dismissed one of the assault summonses against Cheng after hearing defence counsel Mr Alan Ng's submission of no case to answer. He acquitted Cheng of another four of the assault summonses against him because he said there were inconsistencies in the evidence the court had heard relating to them. Defence counsel Mr Ng said both defendants had shared the common grievance that their mainland wives could not get permission to remain in Hongkong, and had hoped that the arrival of the new Governor, Mr Chris Patten, would help their cause. He said: ''Members of the procession were of limited education and had no knowledge of the correct route [of the procession]. They just followed the others. ''It was not a premeditated plan to assault a police officer. It was more of eagerness and frustration.'' But, passing sentence, Mr Sinclair said: ''I have found as a fact that each of these two defendants were, at various times, at the forefront of the procession. ''For some reason the police have decided to charge you under the lesser provisions of the police force ordinance for the assaults and to deal with you by summons. ''I appreciate it's a sensitive issue, but no vociferous groups should have precedence over any other group.'' Mr Sinclair sentenced Cheng and Wong to two months in jail for each of the two summonses on which they were found guilty, both sentences to run concurrently.
