Ted Hui Spared Jail In Legco Phone-snatching Case

Democratic Party legislator Ted Hui has been sentenced to 240 hours of community service and fined HK$3,800 by Eastern Magistracy over a phone-snatching incident at the Legislative Council last year.

Hui was found guilty last month of common assault, obstructing a public officer and accessing a computer with criminal or dishonest intent over the snatching of a female government officer’s mobile phone.

During mitigation on Tuesday, the opposition councillor's lawyer told the court that a community service report proves Hui is genuinely remorseful.

The lawyer also added that Hui is the breadwinner of his family and a jail term would make it especially hard for his wife to take care their two children.

Hui had no criminal record or history of violent action and was not likely to commit such an offence in the future, the lawyer added.

Sentencing Hui, magistrate Cheng Lim-chi said although the security officer had been frightened at the time, she wasn't physically hurt and the incident didn't affect her work much.

The phone-snatching incident took place in April last year when lawmakers were discussing the controversial immigration arrangements for the West Kowloon high-speed rail terminal.

Hui was unhappy with what the opposition called the government’s “paparazzi team” which was reporting the whereabouts of lawmakers.

When he ran into a principal executive officer from the Security Bureau, he grabbed her phone and ran into the men’s toilet with it.

Hui had testified that the officers had breached privacy laws by making notes about where lawmakers were in the building and said that as a councillor, he was obliged to report any illegal acts.

Hui is also facing a separate probe in Legco over the same phone-snatching incident. If the investigation committee decides to censure Hui, he could be removed from office with a two-thirds majority vote.