Three men convicted of assault for soaking Hong Kong police constables with water guns during a Thai New Year celebration in 2023 have been sentenced to 28 days in jail, with a defence lawyer saying it was unprecedented that residents were being charged for assaulting officers on an occasion when the crowd was merely having a good time.
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Kowloon City Magistrate Philip Chan Chee-fai on Friday said the trio, who were earlier convicted of six assault charges, had splashed water at three auxiliary police constables “in full view of the public”, disrespecting the officers whose duty it was to protect participants at the Songkran festival on April 9, 2023.
He added that taxi driver Tsang Wai-shing, 27, clerk Ip Ka-kin, 28, and steel fixer Yuen Tsz-kin, 32, had failed to pick up on the body language of two journalists from the city’s broadcaster TVB, who appeared to be in pain when the defendants shot water jets at them from close range.
But defence lawyer Joey Yuen, representing Tsang, asked the court to take the celebratory atmosphere of the festivities into consideration, as it showed her client had not intentionally attacked officers.
“This case had its uniqueness. There is no single precedent in Hong Kong law that showed a defendant arrested [for assaulting police officers] during a celebratory event [and there was] no tension happening at the celebration [in 2023],” she said.
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The lawyer said Tsang, known by his alias “Brave Dog” on social media, had merely taken part in the festival to film content for his YouTube channel.
In Thai tradition, the act of pouring water symbolises the removal of sins and bad luck.