Hong Kong protests: judge rejects construction worker’s claim that nude photos blackmail scheme forced him to firebomb police station

Lam Siu-hung offered no evidence to back assertion that unknown man had threatened to release photos of his girlfriend should he refuse to attack police station

The construction worker, who faces seven years’ jail, allegedly carried out the firebombing alongside one of 12 Hong Kong fugitives now held in Shenzhen

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Lam Siu-hung, 21, said he was blackmailed into firebombing a police precinct by a man claiming to have nude photos of his girlfriend. Photo: Brian Wong

Published: 6:07pm, 20 Oct 2020Updated: 11:56pm, 20 Oct 2020

A Hong Kong construction worker who tossed a firebomb at a police station during last year’s social unrest saw his defence – that he was blackmailed into doing so by a man claiming to have nude photos of his girlfriend – swiftly rejected in court on Tuesday.

Lam Siu-hung hurled a petrol bomb at Mong Kok Police Station in the early hours of October 14, 2019, four months after anti-government protests first erupted over the now-withdrawn extradition bill, the District Court heard on Tuesday.

The bomb landed against a wall near the building’s rear entrance, but did not cause a fire or result in injuries.

Hong Kong’s District Court on Tuesday rejected the defence presented by a 21-year-old construction worker who threw a firebomb at a police station last year. Photo: Warton Li

The 21-year-old was said to have carried out the attack alongside 16-year-old Hoang Lam-phuc, one of 12 Hongkongers currently detained in Shenzhen after trying to flee to Taiwan, who was also charged with throwing a firebomb at the police premises.

Lam admitted the offence following his arrest, but claimed he was following the instructions of an unknown man who threatened to leak the naked pictures of his girlfriend if he refused.