Hong Kong protests: High Court orders magistrate to revisit acquittal of couple who taunted man later set on fire
- High Court rules Chan Hoi-wan and husband Kwong Yiu-man wrongly acquitted of disorderly conduct in public due to misinterpretation of law
- Middle-aged construction worker was set ablaze by radical protesters during demonstration in Ma On Shan on November 11, 2019
But instead of ordering a retrial, Madam Justice Judianna Barnes asked the lower court to revisit its ruling based on the correct legal principles and facts already established during the original trial, taking into account the time that had elapsed since the incident on November 11, 2019.
She also reinstated the HK$1,000 (US$127) bail imposed on each of the accused before their acquittal and barred them from leaving Hong Kong until the trial magistrate ruled again on the matter.
Chan, 37, and Kwong, 42, were accused of verbally confronting the man on a footbridge in the lead-up to the incident “with intent to provoke a breach of the peace, or whereby a breach of the peace is likely to be caused”.
In clearing the couple of disorderly conduct, Magistrate Arthur Lam Hei-wei cast doubt on the correlation between their taunts and the subsequent attack, adding he had difficulty finding the defendants’ actions were likely to have caused a breach of the peace.