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Brian Wong

A renovation worker who assaulted two men, including a South China Morning Post photographer, during a fracas between anti-government protesters and residents last year was spared jail on Monday.
Instead, Eastern Court ordered Fu Yeung-kam to serve 160 hours of community service, for his attacks on Antony Dickson and an unknown man in North Point.
Magistrate Veronica Heung Shuk-han said a non-custodial sentence was suitable given Fu’s clear record and his victims’ non-serious injuries.
The 45-year-old defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of common assault in January. His lawyers said he had been attacked by a group of black-clad men before the incident, causing him to lose control and commit the offences.
Hong Kong lifeguard first to plead guilty to protest riot charge
The scuffle happened on the night of September 15, when protesters’ tactics of blocking roads, and attacking some people who disagreed with them, raised the ire of other residents.
A group of middle-aged men, some of them armed, were seen proceeding down the streets of North Point and calling anti-government demonstrators “cockroaches”. Some men dressed in black were attacked inside Fortress Hill MTR station.
The court heard that Fu kicked and punched the unidentified man after the man hurled verbal abuse at him.
Dickson, the Post photographer, who was working nearby, rushed to the scene in a bid to mediate, but Fu punched him twice in the face, bruising his right jaw.

It remains unknown what injuries the other man sustained in the incident.
A probation officer for the Social Welfare Department, having considered Fu’s background and motive for the offences, recommended that the court hand him a community service order.
Fu’s lawyers on Monday further asked the court for leniency, saying he had been waiting anxiously since the sentencing hearing, originally scheduled in February, was adjourned twice due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In sparing Fu jail, Heung said the defendant had received positive comments from the probation officer, adding that he had confessed his wrongdoings at the first available opportunity.
No evidence suggested the defendant had left serious injuries on the victims, although he did launch consecutive attacks on the duo
Magistrate Veronica Heung
“No evidence suggested the defendant had left serious injuries on the victims, although he did launch consecutive attacks on the duo,” the magistrate said.
“It is unclear what injuries were inflicted on the unknown man, but given the charge that the defendant is facing, such injuries were probably minor.”
Fu’s was not the only court case to eventuate from the North Point scuffles that night. Earlier, a man was fined HK$2,000 (US$258) for spraying alcohol in the face of two reporters, while another was bound over for damaging a reporter’s microphone.

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Fu Yeung-kam at Eastern Court on Monday. Photo: Brian Wong

Police arrives on the scene where a Fujianese man lies on the floor after been beaten up by protesters North Point, Hong Kong. 15SEP19 SCMP / James Wendlinger

News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime


Fu Yeung-kam handed 160 hours of community service for attacks on Antony Dickson and an unknown man in North Point
Offences happened during scuffles between anti-government demonstrators and local residents who opposed them



Fu Yeung-kam handed 160 hours of community service for attacks on Antony Dickson and an unknown man in North Point.


Hong Kong courts