A 15-year-old Hong Kong boy has denied being part of a conspiracy to attack Civil Human Rights Front convenor Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit last August but admitted tailing the activist and transporting his two assailants for HK$3,000, despite being too young to hold a licence. “I was only responsible for driving the car,” prosecutors said the teen told the police who arrested him in September. Details of the case were revealed in the District Court on Monday, where Sham testified about the alarming attack in which a friend was struck three times by a baseball bat as they had lunch together at a restaurant. The boy pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to cause Sham grievous bodily harm and taking a car without authority, but admitted to driving without a licence or third-party insurance. His co-defendant, salesman Lo Kin-wa, 29, pleaded guilty to all of the above charges, with the exception of driving without a licence, for which he has not been charged. Prosecutors said the actual attack was carried out by two men – believed to be South Asians – who have yet to be identified. The District Court heard Sham had been the subject of a protest outside Yue Hwa Chinese Products Emporium in Jordan on the morning of August 29 before heading to a quick lunch with four friends at Via Restaurant on Tak Hing Street in the same district. I didn’t feel the pain at first, but later I realised the injury was quite serious Law Kwok-wai, on being struck with a baseball bat during the attack Security camera footage obtained from the restaurant showed two men storming towards Sham’s corner table at 12.50pm, triggering alarm among diners as one was wielding a baseball bat while the other brandished a 60cm-long butcher’s knife. The man with the baseball bat was then seen hitting an adjacent table – causing the diner to jump to another seat – before raising the weapon to strike the man at Sham’s table who was nearest him, Law Kwok-wai, who blocked all three blows with his arm. “I didn’t feel the pain at first,” Law told the court on Monday. “But later I realised the injury was quite serious.” A subsequent medical examination at Queen Elizabeth Hospital found Law had suffered swelling and tenderness in his left forearm because of the assault. Sham, who was seated opposite Law, did not sustain any injuries, but recalled the shock of seeing the two assailants suddenly appear. “I was very shocked, because it was very sudden and the two men were armed,” Sham testified. The court heard the attackers then fled the scene before police arrived. Public prosecutor Justin Ma Yu-kit said it was not in dispute that the boy had begun tailing Sham outside the department store at about 11am that day. The boy also admitted to loitering outside the restaurant after he saw Sham enter the premises – to the point that a passer-by found him suspicious, took his picture, and showed it to the activist while his group was dining. The teen further admitted to driving the two assailants back to their meet-up point at a car park in Tuen Mun following the attack. But the car he used had been reported missing since June 12 by its owner, who did not know any of the defendants or suspects, according to Ma. The trial continues before district judge Johnny Chan Jong-herng.