Court Photos Accused To Go On Trial Thursday

A mainland woman suspected of taking photos during a court hearing will go on trial at the High Court on Thursday afternoon.

This comes after the prosecution said police had found in Tang Lin-ling's phone three photos of lawyers and defendants from a trial linked to a pro-democracy protest.

The suspected photo breach happened during a hearing relating to the November 2014 clearance of the Mong Kok Occupy protest site. This was just days after pictures of the jury in a trial over the 2016 Mong Kok riot were emailed to the judiciary.

The prosecution said Tang had remained silent during a police interview, but she had provided officers with the passcode to her mobile. Police had also interviewed three witnesses, the prosecution said.

Tang, who had been arrested on Tuesday for failing to pay her bail money, told Justice Andrew Chan that she had talked to Jesus and he told her “he didn’t think she took the photos”.

The judge also asked if she suffered from any mental illness, and she replied “absolutely not”.

The judge went on to ask the prosecution how to handle mentally ill defendants in contempt of court proceedings, and the counsel said he had no such experience.

When the judge asked Tang why she had provided the court with a non-existent address last week, she said it was perhaps because she was not familiar with the format of addresses in Hong Kong.

Tang was then given more time to find herself a lawyer, after dismissing barrister Kevin Egan who was helping her in previous hearings.

But after saying she had lost faith in foreigners practising law in Hong Kong, and didn't want to bother with the Legal Aid Department, she said she would be representing herself.

The prosecution indicated it may call three eye-witnesses and two police officers to give evidence.

Tang was remanded in custody until Thursday's hearing.

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