Hong Kong protests: former student leader detained ahead of sentencing on charges of resisting arrest, perverting justice
- Former Baptist University student Keith Fong denied bail as he awaits sentencing on two charges related to buying 10 laser pointers during 2019 social unrest
- Judge clears Fong of possessing offensive weapons, finds him guilty of resisting arrest, perverting course of justice
The District Court on Wednesday cleared Keith Fong Chung-yin of possessing offensive weapons in a public place on August 6 that year, citing a lack of evidence that showed he had intended to injure police officers by keeping the devices.
But the 23-year-old former president of Baptist University’s student union was found guilty of resisting a police officer during his arrest, as well as perverting the course of public justice by reconfiguring his mobile phone with a view to impeding the investigation.
The court heard in last December’s trial that Fong had bought the laser pointers for about HK$4,200 (US$538) from a hawker stall on Apliu Street in Sham Shui Po shortly before he was intercepted outside a nearby convenience store. He was arrested and sent to hospital following a struggle with police.
When the student was alone with medical workers inside the emergency ward, he erased data from his iPhone before officers could seize it for evidence.
Prosecutors said that by the time of the incident, six officers had been injured by laser beams in the execution of their duties since the anti-government protests started in June 2019.