Magistrate Targeted After Denying Lawyer's Complaint

Kowloon City Court on Friday rejected a prosecution lawyer’s request for it to record her complaint of receiving online abuse, leading to a group of people shouting derogatory terms aimed at the magistrate, although she had left the courtroom.

A prosecutor in the police assault trial of lawmaker Au Nok-hin, Vivien Chan, had wanted to register a complaint over what she said was “violent treatment and nuisance” she and her family had received online ahead of Au’s conviction earlier this month.

But magistrate Leung Ka-kie rejected this at Friday's hearing where Au was given community service for assaulting police with a loudhailer last year.

Chan had been caught up in a controversy after media reports said she had made disparaging remarks about judges and called anti-government protesters “cockroaches” on her social media account.

She was accused of violating professional standards, and the law firm she works for issued a statement distancing itself from the comments, saying they were Chan's personal views.

“I have a right to be heard,” Chan told the court on Friday, saying she only needed two minutes to air her grievances over the online abuse she claimed to have received on April 4 and 5.

But the magistrate said the legal proceedings of the day were to sentence Au and this had been completed.

“What’s the relevance of what you want to say to the case at hand?” the magistrate asked.

Chan said it was relevant to any potential appeal process, to which Leung did not agree.

The prosecutor also told the court that although she was representing the Department of Justice, she had not notified it of her intention to make a complaint and nor had she sought directions on the matter.

After the court proceedings ended and Leung had left the room, several people from the public stands shouted abuse aimed at the magistrate, calling her “a dog judge”.

They criticised her for not jailing Au and for not listening to Chan’s complaint.