Update | Hong Kong opposition lawmaker Ted Hui bailed after arrest over phone-snatching saga
Democratic Party member who took female civil servant’s phone as she was trying to marshal lawmakers into meeting on April 24 was released from police headquarters shortly after midnight
Democratic Party lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung was bailed just after midnight, following his arrest on Saturday morning for common assault and dishonest access to a computer.
“The case is being investigated and so I can’t say too much about it. Thank you all for staying here till so late at night,” an exhausted Hui told a crowd of reporters, outside the police headquarters in Wan Chai.
Asked if he had cooperated with the police investigation, his fellow party lawmaker James To Kun-sun, a lawyer himself, signalled for Hui to leave.
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The woman was trying to marshal lawmakers into a meeting to discuss a government bill, but Hui felt it was wrong for the government to monitor lawmakers’ whereabouts. After grabbing her phone, he dashed into the men’s toilet, before emerging minutes later.
On Saturday, police said a 36-year-old man, surnamed Hui, was arrested in Tuen Mun in the morning. Later that night, police said he could be involved in two more offences, namely obstructing a public officer in the execution of her duty and criminal damage.
A source with knowledge of the matter said the police told Hui the criminal damage offence concerns the piece of paper containing a list of lawmakers’ names that he snatched from the civil servant.