2 Hong Kong students convicted of arson, assault over petrol bomb attack on police station
- Tsang Wa-kwan, 19, and Lo Nip-fung, 20, threw petrol bombs during an attack on Tai Po Police Station in April last year
- Third defendant cleared after court finds insufficient evidence that he was one of those captured on security footage
Two students were convicted on Wednesday of arson and assaulting an officer over a petrol bomb attack they launched last year on a Hong Kong police station.
Tsang Wa-kwan, 19, and Lo Nip-fung, 20, were each cleared of a more serious charge of arson with intent to endanger life after the District Court ruled the prosecution had failed to prove the pair aimed their firebombs at a constable posted outside Tai Po Police Station.
The two accused admitted in September before the trial began to a lesser count of arson with intent to damage property and assaulting a police officer to resist apprehension.
A third defendant, 18-year-old Kwok Hoi-dick who denied arson, walked free after the court found insufficient evidence he was one of the perpetrators captured on security camera footage.
The trio, all from the same secondary school, had been linked to the firebomb attack at the police station in the early hours of April 1, 2020.
A 45-second CCTV video of the incident showed three black-clad individuals hurling five Molotov cocktails at the police facility at about 2.25am.
The attack left scorch marks on the station’s gate and wall, but there were no casualties.