Hong Kong protests: Yuen Long station attacker apologises to victims as judge says ‘indiscriminate assault’ warrants severe punishment
- Lam Koon-leung, who pleaded guilty before trial began, one of four defendants in District Court ahead of sentencing
- Lawyers lay out arguments for leniency as judge says past contributions to society not meaningful mitigation
A man who took part in an “indiscriminate” attack on protesters and commuters at a Hong Kong railway station two years ago apologised to his victims on Tuesday.
Lam Koon-leung told a judge he had joined the rabble “out of impulse” in one of the worst outbreaks of violence during the social unrest in 2019.
The District Court heard mitigation from lawyers representing four of seven defendants who were convicted of rioting and wounding charges in relation to the overnight violence at Yuen Long MTR station between July 21 and 22.
Giving his preliminary views on sentence, Judge Eddie Yip Chor-man said the attack was so serious that the defendants’ past contributions to society, and the difficulties faced by their family members, could not constitute meaningful mitigation.
Their acts on the night in question were “some distance away from what was expected from an ordinary man”, the judge said, adding the defendants had failed to explain their motives.
“I am not saying [the defendants] are very bad, but everybody on that night appeared to have lost control for some unknown reason,” the judge said. “[The attack] really looked like an indiscriminate assault.”