A sniper assigned to shoot Hong Kong police in a foiled bomb plot has revealed the identity of the actual mastermind, saying the individual was solely responsible for buying firearms and conceived the attack years before the “Dragon Slaying Brigade” was assembled in 2019.
Prosecution witness David Su told the High Court on Monday the idea of planting bombs and killing police officers with guns on December 8, 2019, surfaced as early as 2017 and came from a man only identified as “Steven”.
Su, who was aged 18 in 2019, said Steven shared a vision of launching radical and violent protests to fight for Hong Kong independence.
He added that he was only following Steven’s orders and was terrified to quit the December 8 plot as he knew the man, who is about 10 years his senior, had previously attempted to kill someone who tried to back out.
Su said the plan was for him to be positioned from a high building on Hennessy Road in Wan Chai on December 8, 2019, to shoot officers on the street after a small bomb had detonated.
Six defendants – Cheung Chun-fu, Cheung Ming-yu, Yim Man-him, Christian Lee Ka-tin, Lai Chun-pong and Justin Hui Cham-wing – are on trial for their alleged roles in the bomb plot.
Su suggested in his testimony that neither brigade leader Wong Chun-keung nor the other ringleader, Ng Chi-hung, were the masterminds of the plot, but instead were only brought together by Steven to execute the attack.
Steven, however, was not arrested in relation to this bomb plot, Su said.
“Steven put forward his ideology of using violence in protests to the valiant protesters who said they wanted to use real guns [against police],” Su said in the witness box.
“I was then sent to ‘sell’ the firearms to these people.”
Su said he pitched to Ng and a third party in their first meeting in July 2019 about Steven having the means to smuggle firearms to the city given that he done so successfully years ago. The third party was said to have provided financial support to Steven.
Ng agreed to buy three pistols from Steven and they were delivered to Ng before December that year, he added.
The court had earlier heard evidence from multiple witnesses that Ng and Wong had respectively sent the members of their teams to test firearms and explosives in a suburb that November.
But evidence suggested the attendees were not aware that guns and explosives they had tested were part of December 8 plan.
Su said on Monday that Steven decided to escalate the violence against police in early October after a protester was shot by a policeman. The protester survived.
“At that time, Steven did not say I had to take part in it. I simply thought he was bluffing,” he said.
Su said he only knew Steven was being serious about the attack when the latter bought parts of at least five pistols and a rifle, and had them shipped from the United States to Hong Kong in November 2019.
The court heard from Su’s testimony that he and Steven were familiar with the use of firearms as they had bonded over playing war games since 2014.
Su added that Steven had instilled political views into him during the Occupy Central movement in 2014, and later recruited him to be a right-hand man of an organisation that advocated for Hong Kong independence.
“It was an irresistible offer to the younger me,” Su said, adding he clearly understood the organisation had been involved in unlawful activities to advance its political agenda.
Steven and Su were arrested over another criminal case in 2018 and the two were on bail while taking part in the preparation of the December 8 plot, the court heard.
When asked by prosecutor Juliana Chow Hoi-ling whether he had at any point agreed to take part in a plot that would have killed innocent civilians, Su replied: “I cannot say I had objected to it, but I was reluctant to personally execute the plan.”
But Chow presented a Telegram chat record between Su and Ng, showing the two had discussed how Su could carry the rifle and ammunition from his home to Wan Chai, on the night before the planned attack.
Su said he never intended to show up the next day and only pretended to confirm the plan with Ng. He said he feared Ng would tell Steven that he wanted to call off the whole operation.
“From what I know about Steven, he would try to kill anyone who attempted to quit the operation after knowing the full details,” he told the court.
Su earlier pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to murder, possession of arms or ammunition with intent to endanger life, and resisting arrest while in possession of arms or ammunition.
Su had shot at an officer with intent to resist lawful apprehension outside Jade Plaza in Tai Po on December 20, 2019. He was also found to have unlawfully possessed a pistol, a rifle, 44 pistol rounds and 211 rifle bullets stored in nine magazines.
The trial continues on Tuesday.
