Wong broke down during the hearing as the defence argued he was “playing the field” with backers during the year of the bomb plot, in a bid to challenge the witness’s credibility.

The defence questioned him about his relationships with a Thai woman whose bank account was used to handle cash raised by crowdfunding, a second woman believed to have led a protest group and a third whom Wong said had helped with the plan.

The judge, Mrs Justice Judianna Barnes, was forced to adjourn the hearing for nearly an hour until Wong was able to speak.

Telegram chat records presented in court also showed Wong had described his role in entertaining financial backers and other supporters as akin to being a “male prostitute”.

“I was joking. It was tiring and hard to entertain [all these people], that is why I felt like I was working as a male prostitute,” he said.

Wong, a former construction worker, explained he had constantly dined out and met several supporters, adding that he had “varying” types of relationships with backers.

He earlier told the court that a woman known as Pui-yi had helped him pack an escape kit on December 7, 2019, a day before he and other brigade members were set to plant two bombs in Wan Chai.

Yim’s defence lawyer, Michael Leung, noted that Pui-yi in a Telegram chat with Wong had taken issue with his use of the bank account belonging to his then-girlfriend, a Thai woman only named as Rin, to handle the group’s funds.

Wong also contacted a teammate only identified as Kan and asked for the latter’s help to conceal a secret.

Wong admitted on Thursday that he asked Kan to hide from Rin that he had a brief relationship with another woman during a team-building trip in Thailand in November of that year.

Leung argued that the witness had used his teammate to cover up his personal history, a contention that Wong denied.

He denied having a sexual relationship with a woman known as Kristy, who was believed to be the head of a group of frontline protesters.

The defence lawyer also argued that his client, Yim, was not an active member of the team, citing a Telegram group chat that showed he regularly ducked out of attending demonstrations from November to December of 2019 to spend time with his girlfriend.

Yim only agreed to pick up the team’s gear from a warehouse in Tsuen Wan the night before the thwarted bombing after Wong berated him in the group chat, Leung said.

Replying to the lawyer’s argument, Wong said: “I was blaming [Yim] because he was so absorbed in hanging out with his girlfriend and did not focus on our team’s missions.”

The witness earlier told the court that he initially wanted the group to use firearms and explosives in an attack on December 1 of that year, but the plan was called off due to Yim’s absence.

The court heard on Thursday that Yim had instead opted to take his girlfriend on a trip to South Korea.

The trial continues on Friday.