A TRIAD member knocked unconscious while attacking a hawker was yesterday jailed for two years and 10 months. Ko Tin-chiu, 32, was found guilty after trial of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possessing an offensive weapon in a public place, blackmail and being a member of a triad society. The District Court was told that Ko and about 10 others sought to obtain a tor dei, or bully fee, from fruit hawker Kwok Kai-man, who was operating under the Mei Foo Sun Chuen flyover, Shamshuipo, in September last year. To avoid trouble, Mr Kwok handed over $30, but Ko threw it back and hurled two melons from the hawker's cart to the ground. Four days later, Ko returned, again with about 10 others, but this time armed with water pipes and knives. Ko, who was leading the group, struck Mr Kwok with a pipe, the court was told. Others joined in the attack, but in the melee Ko was knocked unconscious. Defence counsel John McLanachan told the court Ko had co-operated with police. Passing sentence, Judge Jackson said: ''These are nasty offences which occur far too frequently in Hongkong.'' He imposed a 12-month sentence for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, six months for possession of an offensive weapon, two years and three months for blackmail and three months for being a member of a triad society. The judge ordered sentences on the first three charges to run concurrently, and on the fourth charge to run consecutively. He also ordered Ko to serve an additional four months for breach of a suspended sentence imposed in 1991 for blackmail.
