A television news reporter who complained he was assaulted at a Thai new year celebration in Hong Kong by being soaked with water guns has denied his views on the trio were coloured by a social media clip poking fun at him.
Prosecution witness Ng Ka-hin, 25, told Kowloon City Court on Monday that the three men now on trial had hurt his eyes and ears by continuously shooting jets of water at him using “relatively powerful” toy guns during last year’s Songkran festival.
The journalist said he was aware the trio had produced and publicised a two-minute clip on YouTube and Instagram mocking him and his company TVB, the city’s biggest free-to-air broadcaster.
But he rejected the defence’s contention he had confused his discontent with the persistent splashing with his disapproval of the video.
Ng stressed he had never thought of being drenched to the skin during the event, adding the trio’s “intentional” acts were unwarranted.
“Since the start of my career, I had been given the cold shoulder from time to time when I tried to interview people on the streets, but I had never encountered such hostile conduct like this before,” Ng said.
Songkran marks the Thai new year, and the traditional practice of pouring water to wash away sins and bad luck has evolved into mass water fights on the streets. The event returned to Kowloon City, home to hundreds of Thai people, in 2023 after the Covid-19 pandemic put celebrations on hold for three years.
The three defendants – taxi driver Tsang Wai-shing, 26, clerk Ip Ka-kin, 27, and adult products retailer Yuen Tsz-kin, 31 – are accused of using water guns to assault three auxiliary police constables and two TVB journalists, Ng and Timothy Li Tin-yiu, in Kowloon City on April 9, 2023.
Tsang, known by his alias “brave dog” on social media, and Yuen also allegedly attacked a TVB cameraman, Tam Wing-man.
The three have denied three counts each of assaulting a police officer and common assault.
Tam testified on Monday that he had invited half a dozen children to splash water at Ng and Li when the pair filmed a news clip on South Wall Road, the venue for the event.
But things did not go as planned after the defendants entered the fray and targeted Tam and his colleagues in an “aggressive” manner, the court heard.
The cameraman also accused Tsang of shoving him using an elbow when the crew tried to get rid of their pursuers.
But Tam and Ng acknowledged they would not have filed a complaint had they not been approached by police for help in an investigation into alleged disruption to public order, echoing what their colleague Li said in an earlier court session.
The trial continues before Magistrate Philip Chan Chee-fai.
