Hong Kong protests: 16-year-old who threw petrol bomb at police living quarters latest to see probation turned into custodial sentence
- The Court of Appeal concluded that time at a training centre was more appropriate given the gravity of the offence
- The sentence, originally delivered by Magistrate Stanley Ho, is one of at least 10 to be reversed at the court after applications for review by prosecutors
The Court of Appeal on Thursday concluded the custodial option was the most appropriate sentence for the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, after balancing the gravity of his offence with the need for rehabilitation.
At least 10 sentences have been upended by the appeal court in recent months following applications for review by prosecutors.
Training centre sentences can range from a period of six months to three years, depending on the teenage offender’s performance in custody, during which he or she is to be trained in a trade.
The case was one of eight involving protesters originally handled by Magistrate Stanley Ho Chun-yiu that drew enough complaints that the judiciary decided to address them collectively in a webpage introduced last year. Ho has been cleared of allegations of bias in six of the cases, but the judiciary has yet to address the present case in light of ongoing proceedings.
Prosecutors had previously convinced the three-judge panel to allow their review application and set aside the teen’s original sentence, imposed last August, on the basis that his three-year probation order did not adequately reflect his culpability.