Hong Kong fashion designer gets year in jail for carrying petrol bombs in backpack at anti-mask law protest
- Wong Yuen-yu’s decision to ‘give a hand’ to fellow protester was not premeditated, her lawyer told courtroom
- Criminal record likely to haunt defendant, magistrate suggests at sentencing hearing
A fashion designer found guilty of carrying three petrol bombs in her backpack for a fellow demonstrator at an October protest was sentenced to a year in jail on Friday.
She was arrested after occupying Kwong Fuk Road in Tai Po that evening alongside about 20 black-clad protesters. Police later found the bombs in her bag.
Wong, the fourth defendant to be sentenced over petrol bomb possession since protests broke out in June, pleaded guilty earlier this month to one count of possessing offensive weapons in a public place.
Passing sentence in Fanling Court, acting principal magistrate Don So Man-lung said immediate custodial sentence was both appropriate and mandated by law, despite her “clear and unblemished record”.
“It was clear in her mind that the bombs were dangerous and life-threatening. She nevertheless chose to keep them and to carry them for other people to use,” he said.
