Schoolboy, 15, placed under curfew for trespassing in PLA barracks
Boy, who had been protesting the handing over of harbourfront land for a military berth, is banned from leaving his family home at night for a year
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 25 June, 2014, 12:51pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 25 June, 2014, 12:51pm
Chris [email protected]
A social worker will be assigned to work with the boy for a year, Eastern Court heard. Photo: SCMP Pictures
A 15-year-old schoolboy who pleaded guilty to trespassing in the People’s Liberation Army barracks in Admiralty has been banned from leaving his family home at night for a year.
Magistrate Symon Wong Yu-wing on Wednesday handed down a 12-month care-and-protection order to the boy, who cannot be named due to his age, which took into account the defendant’s positive probation service report.
Eastern Court heard that the schoolboy entered the barracks on Boxing Day last year as part of a protest against the handing over of a prime section of harbourfront land to the PLA for the construction of a military berth.
“Trespassing in military barracks is a very serious crime,” Wong said. “The court initially did not intend to hand out a light sentence.”
The court heard that the schoolboy had promised to focus on schoolwork and to “stop hanging out with friends who are a bad influence”.
Wong said the teenager had to comply with instruction from a social welfare worker who will be assigned to work with him for a year, and that the young defendant would be placed under a curfew which will require him to stay home from 8pm to 6am every night for 12 months.
The 15-year-old and three others protested three feet inside the PLA barracks on December 26 last year.
Dickson Cheung Hon-yin and Tse Wing-man both pleaded guilty to trespassing and were fined HK$2,000 last week for their parts in the protest.
Another activist, Billy Chiu Hin-chung, who chanted slogans and waved a colonial-era Hong Kong flag after entering the military site, pleaded not guilty.
He was convicted and given a two-week sentence, suspended for 12 months.
The trio, who the court heard the boy knew socially, belong to group called Hongkongers Come First which has called for greater autonomy for Hong Kong.
