Man with mental illness handed hospital order after stomping on national flag

A 38-year-old man with schizophrenia was handed a three-month hospital order after he pleaded guilty to desecrating the national flag and assaulting a female pedestrian he never met in November. 

In the Eastern Court on Wednesday, the defendant Lo Ming-lok admitted to a count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one of desecrating national flag and its image. 

The court heard that Lo punched a traffic light at the intersection between Java Road and Shu Kuk Street in North Point on November 1. 

He also punched a female pedestrian he never met before in the face. The woman then reported to police as her cheek became swollen and her lips bled. 

Lo was later seen entering North Point Ferry Pier flying a national flag in his hand. Yet, he suddenly threw the flag onto the ground and stomped on the flag. 

Lo then abandoned the flag but recovered it again from a nearby staffer. He again threw it onto the ground and this time he placed a metal sign post on the flag. 

When sentencing, principal magistrate Ivy Chui Yee-mei said offenders convicted of desecrating the national flag shall be jailed even if they committed the offense for the first-time. However, given Lo’s mental status, Chui referred to the psychiatrist’s report and handed down a hospital order.