Protest Duo Jailed For Damaging Octopus Machine

Two men were jailed on Thursday for four weeks for vandalising an Octopus machine at a MTR light rail station in Tuen Mun last year.

Ng Siu-hin and Fok Kai-fung, both in their early twenties, were earlier convicted of damaging the machine at Ching Chung stop in the evening of September 8.

Tuen Mun magistrate Kelly Shui said the defendants' remorse came too late, and she believed they would have vandalised all the facilities at the station if their acts weren't discovered.

She said their actions were planned, as Fok brought hard objects and a change of clothes.

The magistrate also cited their probation reports, saying the defendants were incited by online calls, and Ng couldn't even answer the probation officer on what he believed the MTR had done wrong.

During last year's social unrest, the MTR was targetted by anti-government protesters who said the corporation sided with the police.