One of the six Yuen Long riot defendants, nicknamed "Flying Nam," told a district court yesterday he had no idea what was happening inside the MTR station and that he tried to stop villagers from confronting people they believed wanted to enter villages to destroy ancestral shrines.
Ng Wai-nam, 58, pleads not guilty to rioting and wounding black-shirted people with intent at Ying Lung Wai in the early hours of July 22, 2019.
Mounting his own defense before judge Eddie Yip Chor-man, Ng said he had worked overnight as a Highways Department contract worker on July 21. He finished work at 6am and slept until 9pm, after which he drove to Fung Kwan Street for dinner and dessert.
He was driving home from Kam Tin at 11.45pm when he saw a crowd outside exit J of the MTR station and ambulances near Ying Lung Wai. Ng said he did not know what had happened inside the station and thought there had been an accident.
Ng told the court he stopped the car at the entrance to Tai Wai Tsuen around 12.30am, as he wanted to check on the villagers.
On his approach, a female villager, Kitty, told him: "Those people want to enter our village and destroy our ancestral shrines."
Ng said he believed her and was worried villagers would be hurt and property damaged. He recalled there were only a dozen villagers but "a large number of outsiders," some holding umbrellas and long sticks and some even pushing barricades toward villagers.
Ng said he urged the outsiders to leave and asked villagers to return home, hoping that there would not be any clashes between them.
He said he was hit with a hard object during the chaos, causing his mouth and nose to bleed, and he almost fell. Ng also said he felt threatened when a man in a dark-colored shirt approached him with a long stick. "I snatched a wooden stick to protect myself," Ng said.
Ng also said he waved the stick around. because people had hurled objects at him and he hoped to keep them away from him.
He added he only used the stick on the barricades, hoping to scare the crowd away, and did not hit anyone with it.
His codefendants are transport worker Wong Chi-wing, 55; cable worker Wong Ying-kit, 49; merchant Tang Wai-sum, 62; mechanic Choi Lap-ki, 40; and retiree Tang Ying-bun, 61.
Separately, a defense witness who works in a shop in Yuen Long refused to testify after Yip rejected a witness' request that the shop's name nto be read out in court.
Barrister Vivian Wong Wing-man, who represents Wong Ying-kit, said her client will not testify, but will summon a witness who wanted the name of the shop, seen by many as a "blue-economy" shop, not be read out in court, but Yip rejected this request.
The hearing continues today.
