A vocational student led an attack by a group of men armed with metal pipes against a man who appeared in a photograph with the attacker's girlfriend, one of seven accomplices told the District Court yesterday.
The victim, now 19, was lured to the Tung Lo Wan Garden in Gloucester Road by the girlfriend, Chan Kit-yan, 21, and her friend Choy Sin-man, 19. There, three masked men - the boyfriend, Ronnie Leung Hoi-ching, 20, Kwong Kin-chun, 20, and Tong Yu-ho, 19 - beat him with metal pipes, the prosecution alleged. Two others, Chan Shun-hang and Au Kai-lun, both 19, allegedly acted as lookouts while the attack took place on the afternoon of January 8, 2005.
All members of the group faced one count of wounding with intent. Choy and Kwong had pleaded guilty and would be sentenced at the conclusion of the case. The trial of the other five will continue on Monday before Deputy Judge John Glass.
The victim, Edgar Lai Ka-hong, who is studying in Canada, was in hospital for two weeks with deep cuts to his scalp and right ear and a fractured skull. He did not want to relive the trauma and had refused to return to the city to testify for the prosecution, the court heard.
