A Hong Kong man who tried to flee to Taiwan while facing a charge linked to the 2019 protests has been jailed for three years and 10 months, after he pleaded guilty to a petrol bomb plot and perverting the course of justice.
District Judge Ernest Lin put defendant Tang Kai-yin behind bars on Tuesday, almost eight months after the 34-year-old finished serving a three-year sentence in mainland China, local media reported.
He was among 12 Hongkongers intercepted by Chinese coastguards in August 2020, when they attempted to escape to Taiwan on a speedboat. Most on board were on bail pending trial over offences linked to the protests in 2019, including rioting and arson. Tang faced a charge of conspiracy to endanger life by fire with intent.
Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”
Mainland authorities returned two minors back to Hong Kong police without charge in December 2020. The remaining ten were imprisoned between seven months to three years for crossing the border illegally. Tang, who was convicted of organising the illegal crossing, received the heaviest penalty among the ten.
After Tang was handed over to the Hong Kong authorities in August last year, he pleaded guilty to possessing materials that could be used to make petrol bombs and perverting the course of justice.
During a court hearing in January, Tang admitted to possessing glass bottles, ethanol, gasoline, magnesium powder and other materials that could be used to manufacture petrol bombs with four others inside a flat in Wan Chai in September 2019. The materials could make up to 16 petrol bombs, government forensic experts estimated.
According to local media, Lin said on Tuesday that Tang had played a leading role in both the perversion of justice and explosives cases and should face heavier criminal liability. There was meticulous planning and accurate division of labour in the latter, the judge said, adding that Tang and his co-defendants did not make more explosives only because their plot was thwarted by the police.
Lin also criticised Tang for assisting other people to evade criminal liabilities, saying he was responsible for purchasing the vessel and planning the escape route to Taiwan. Tang, who was 30 at the time of the offence, was “experienced” and could not blame his act on being young and ignorant, Lin said.
The court meted out a jail term of two years and 10 months for the explosives case and a one-year jail term for perverting the course of justice. Tang would serve the penalties consecutively – three years and ten months behind bars in total – given the two cases involved separate offences, Lin ruled.
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