Hong Kong protests: teens set to face jail time for rioting
- Judge rejects lawyer’s call to request reports to study the possibility of alternative sentencing options
- Jurors earlier cleared protesters of charges of manslaughter and wounding
Two young protesters convicted of rioting at a 2019 anti-government demonstration that led to the death of an elderly janitor are certain to face jail terms, after a judge refused to seek reports to study the possibility of other sentencing options.
Madam Justice Esther Toh Lye-ping ordered reports to study the backgrounds of Chan Yin-ting, 18, and Kelvin Lau Tsz-lung, 19, but refrained from calling for other documents often considered to examine young offenders’ suitability to serve time in training or detention centres.
While training centres provide both male and female detainees aged between 14 and 20 a chance for rehabilitation often, for a period of six months to three years, detention centres offer male offenders between the age of 14 and 24 disciplinary training for a term of one to 12 months.
Chan, a student, and Lau, unemployed, were found guilty by a jury earlier this month of rioting at a protest on November 13, 2019, during which Luo Changqing, 70, was struck by a flying brick and later died.
On Friday, defence barrister David Boyton, for Chan, urged Toh to consider ordering several reports before sentencing his client, given he was only 16 when the crime took place.
But Toh declined: “I will not call for the reports because as I have indicated this is a very serious offence.”
The court heard Chan was a student from a band-one school, referring to leading secondary schools, while Lau, who lost his father at a young age, was a fitness and sports student at the Youth College in Tuen Mun, an institution run by the Vocational Training Council.