Transport worker who threw egg at Hong Kong student activist Joshua Wong skips sentencing hearing

A man who admitted throwing eggs at student activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung outside a court building could be in more trouble after failing to appear before a magistrate for sentencing yesterday.

Li Wong, 27, did not turn up at Kowloon City Court, where he was supposed to hear his sentence for flinging eggs at Wong outside the same court in November last year.

His lawyer Paul Kwong Wai-chuen said he had been unable to contact his client for a week and had not received any instruction to the effect that Li wanted to cease his legal representation.

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Magistrate Dr Eric Cheung Kwan-ming decided not to issue an arrest warrant yet, citing the possibility that the defendant could have been in hospital.

He adjourned the sentencing of Li and his co-accused Cheung Ka-shing, 33, who did attend court yesterday, to November 6. Should Li fail to turn up again, the magistrate said, he would face an arrest warrant.

Li and Cheung Ka-shing pleaded guilty to one count each of common assault at an earlier hearing in August and were fined HK$3,000 each.

But prosecutors took their sentence back to court for a review, complaining that the court failed to take into consideration the elements of "premeditation" and "lynching".