Man jailed for violent attacks in Hong Kong’s nightlife neighbourhood

A Muay Thai enthusiast was jailed for four years and nine months on Wednesday for two violent robberies in Hong Kong’s SoHo neighbourhood, though he was also shown mercy by a judge on account of his mental troubles.

In the space of six days in November 2017, Limbu Jun-kang grabbed and punched two victims before taking a total of HK$1,720 (US$220) from them in Central, the High Court had heard in August when he confessed his crime.

He hit one of the victims on the head with a bottle, the court then heard.

Sentencing Limbu on Wednesday, deputy High Court judge Andrew Bruce described his act as “substantial violence”, as the 26-year-old looked specifically for intoxicated targets that were “less able to resist” his attempts at robbery.

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But the judge also had mercy for him, granting him a discount on jail term, after acknowledging that the mental conditions and delays in treating them had taken a toll on Limbu, who was originally Chan King-tung until he adopted a Nepalese name in 2016 as a sign of respect for a Nepalese neighbour who had been kind to him.

Bruce noted that Limbu had suffered from a disorder on the autism spectrum since he was young, but never received any treatment. While it was not in the court’s capacity to comment on the city’s education system, he said, it nevertheless might have been a different story had the accused been given earlier interventions.

He also accepted that the man had strayed off track due to the undue influence from bad peers he had met while practising Muay Thai.

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The court had heard the first robbery took place on November 12, 2017, when he pretended to be the friend of a drunk man and walked him into a back lane off Wellington Street near Lan Kwai Fong.

He then put his victim, Chan Chun-wa, in an armlock from behind, punching his face and kicking him. He ran away with HK$1,300, while his victim would spend three days in hospital, the court heard.

Limbu launched the second attack five days later on Chan Chung-yin, hitting him on the head with a bottle before fleeing with HK$420. He was arrested the next day, November 18.

During mitigation, defence counsel Steven Kwan Man-wai said the Form Two dropout had been a victim of bullying, robbery and, most recently, sexual assault, which led to a drastic change in his character.

Despite showing some hyperactivity since he was young, Kwan said, Limbu was not diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder – a condition that makes him easily lose his temper – until 2012, when he was sent to a reformatory for hitting his colleague in a McDonald’s outlet.

This prompted the judge to seek reports to study his mental state before sentencing him on Wednesday.