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SCMP Reporter

Form Five students are sentenced for beating a 15-year-old, whose ordeal was captured on video

Three school bullies were sent to detention and rehabilitation centres yesterday over savage attacks on a classmate at a Sheung Shui school, one of which was captured on a digital camera.

Fanling Court magistrate Anthony Kwok Kai-on  said the Form 5 students needed discipline and retraining to correct their moral values. A fourth student was put on probation.

Eleven students were implicated in the beatings - which took place on November 21, 28 and December 1 - of Lau Sai-kit,  15, at  De La Salle Secondary School.

A spate of school violence cases has prompted lawmakers to call for urgent measures to fight the problem.

Lo Wai-man,  16, and Yuen Kit, 18, were sent to a rehabilitation centre and Cheung Hok-kan,  16, was given a detention centre order. All three pleaded guilty to the  assaults.

Choi Tsz-yik,  16, was given an 18-month probation order and a night curfew after Mr Kwok   ruled he had played a minor role in the attacks.

Cheung Kai-hong  and Ho Kai-tin,  who earlier pleaded guilty to assault, will be sentenced on March 11. Another  defendant, Lam Hing-yuen,  pleaded not guilty and his case was adjourned to April 27.

Mr Kwok sentenced  four other defendants on February 5.

Yesterday, Mr Kwok said Lo's actions were the worst because he beat the victim with a chair.

The court heard that on December 1, several boys surrounded and pushed Sai-kit, described as 'a quiet student', to the floor. After he was kicked in the back and the head, Sai-kit was turned over and punched in the face for about a minute. The attack did not stop until the boy started bleeding.

Sai-kit reported the attack to a teacher and police arrested most of the attackers the next day.

The incident caused a public uproar after a student posted footage of the beating in internet chat rooms. The pictures eventually made their way into newspapers and on to television news shows.

After the attack was reported, it was discovered Sai-kit had been subjected to previous beatings by the gang dating back to November 21.

On that occasion, the defendants kicked and punched Sai-kit in the boys' changing room, with one of them grabbing his neck so hard that his tongue lolled out.

The other attack occurred a week later when Wai-man pushed Sai-kit to the floor while others  kicked his stomach and face. Lo then picked up a chair and pushed it on to Sai-kit's body with his foot.



School bullies sent to rehabilitation centre over attack