Student Leader Acquitted On Laser-pointer Charge

A former president of Baptist University’s student union, Keith Fong, was on Wednesday acquitted of possessing laser pointers during the 2019 social unrest.

But the District Court found him guilty of resisting arrest and perverting the course of justice.

The court heard that an off-duty police officer spotted Fong buying 10 laser pointers – which authorities had deemed as weapons – in Sham Shui Po on August 6, 2019, but that he put up resistance when being arrested.

The prosecution said Fong also reset his phone before it was seized as evidence.

Delivering his verdict, Judge Douglas Yau rejected the defence’s argument that Fong had bought the laser pointers for stargazing, saying he wasn’t a member of any astronomy club and no such books were found with him.

The devices were also way too powerful for such activity, the judge noted.

However, he said Fong wasn’t arrested near any protest site and there were no batteries in the laser pointers, so it was difficult to determine how they would be used.

Yau said although it was “suspicious” that Fong had bought so many laser pointers, the prosecution had failed to prove that his intent was to hurt the police during protests.

As for the remaining two charges, the judge ruled that Fong must have known the man who stopped him was a police officer as he was shown a warrant card, but he struggled and tried to escape.

The judge also said Fong would have been the only person who could reset his phone while receiving treatment in hospital, since no one else had access to the phone.

Yau said the defendant must have known that the police would seize his phone for investigation, and erasing the data would hinder that.

The court will hear mitigation on March 3. Fong was remanded in custody.