Tsang Chi-kin jailed nearly four years for rioting and failed attempt to flee to Taiwan

Twenty-two-year-old Tsang Chi-kin who was shot during a Tsuen Wan protest in 2019 was jailed on Wednesday for nearly four years for rioting and his failed attempt to flee to Taiwan. 

Tsang got shot by a cop during the protest on the National Day four years ago. He was later charged with rioting on Hoi Pa Street, Tai Ho Road, and at Hau Tei Square; and assaulting station sergeant Tsang Ka-fai. 

Tsang had earlier pleaded guilty to both charges. 

After police initiated prosecution against Tsang, he missed the hearing in December 2020 and jumped bail for over one-and-a-half year. It was later revealed he was harbored by the members of a YouTube channel and remained in Hong Kong. 

He and two other wanted protesters as well as a man were arrested by police in Sai Kung last July as they were about to board a boat and flee to Taiwan. 

Tsang, the wanted men Ansen Wong and Alex Wong Chun-yin, and Yip Ho were charged with perverting the course of justice and all four had pleaded guilty to the charge. 

The two District Court cases were heard at West Kowloon Court today. Deputy District Judge Ada Yim Shun-yee started Tsang’s term at 40 months and seven months for the riot and assault police charges respectively. 

Two months of the sentence for assaulting police will run consecutively. Tsang was also given another five months in prison for the botched fleeing attempt, meaning he is jailed for 47 months in total. 

Ansen Wong, 23, has been jailed 10 months and Alex Wong, 17, has been sent to a training center. Yip, 35, who helped arrange the boat for the trio has been jailed for 20 months. 

Yim noted that Tsang brought his own metal pole and a shield and blasted him for publicly attacking police and disrupting social order alongside the massive number of protesters at the scene. 

Yim said she originally didn’t want to reduce Tsang’s term but recalled that Tsang cooperated with police following the second arrest and was viewed as a witness, indicating his true remorse. 

Although Yim pointed out that Tsang had been suffering from depression since 2017 and he was shot during the protest, she said these were not mitigation factors. Sill, she decided reduce Tsang’s jail term given that he was only 18 at the time.