Hong Kong protests: elderly man gets suspended jail sentence for punching woman in the head

Kwun Tong Court jails Ngan Hok-hoi for 14 days but suspends the term for two years due to his advanced age and previously clean criminal record

The retiree attacked a woman at a ‘Lennon Wall’ outside a construction site near Kowloon Bay MTR station on December 2, 2019

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Ngan Hok-hoi, 85, leaves Kwun Tong Court on Tuesday. Photo: Brian Wong

Published: 3:43pm, 12 Jan 2021Updated: 4:07pm, 12 Jan 2021

An 85-year-old man has been given a suspended jail sentence for punching a woman in the head after becoming enraged at the posting of protest slogans during Hong Kong’s 2019 social unrest.

Kwun Tong Court jailed Ngan Hok-hoi for 14 days on Tuesday but suspended the term for two years on account of his advanced age and previously clean criminal record.

The retiree attacked the woman, surnamed Leung, at a so-called Lennon Wall mounted outside a construction site near Kowloon Bay MTR station on the night of December 2, 2019.

The assault was launched six months into the anti-government protests sparked by the since-shelved extradition bill.

The wall was one of many similar displays that sprang up across the city, bearing messages in support of the protest movement and occasionally becoming flashpoints for violence.

Ngan was said to have torn away posters affixed to the Kowloon Bay wall at 7.20pm.