Prison looms for Lee in-law who tried to protect sister

The sister-in-law of jailed pro-democracy activist Lee Cheuk-yan yesterday pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice after she took away a mobile phone and laptop from her sister's flat upon learning of her sister's arrest by national security officers.

Lee was a former leader of the now-disbanded Confederation of Trade Unions.

Marilyn Tang Yin-lee, 63, yesterday admitted taking away her sister Elizabeth Tang Yin-ngor's possessions from her Mei Foo Sun Chuen home on March 9 in wake of her arrest by national security police officers on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces.

West Kowloon magistrate Patrick Tsang Hing-tung adjourned the case to December 21, saying a jail sentence is inevitable.

Tang, who is unemployed, was remanded in custody until her next court appearance pending a background report.

The court heard that Elizabeth Tang was arrested in the afternoon of March 9 and taken to Stanley police station.

Saying she did not have the key to her flat, she instructed her lawyer to call her sister to open the door for police officers.

Elizabeth Tang was escorted to the unit at 4.52 pm, with Marilyn Tang opening the door by entering a six-digit password for the electronic lock.

Officers left the flat 1 hours later.

They subsequently found Marilyn Tang had entered the unit twice beforehand.

Closed-circuit security camera footage showed she first entered the unit at 2.24 pm and stayed for more than an hour.

She made another trip to the unit at 3.43 pm, and stayed for 41 minutes.

Those trips fueled police suspicions that Marilyn Tang had taken away some key evidence and led to her arrest two days later.

Under police caution, Marilyn Tang admitted that upon learning of her sister's arrest, she headed to the Mei Foo home to take away her sister's phone and laptop.

"The silver-color laptop and the white iPhone belongs to my elder sister. Two days ago, I learned about my sister's arrest, and I went to the Mei Foo flat to take away these two items in the afternoon," she said under police caution.

The laptop and iPhone were later sent for forensic examination, in which only personal information relating to Elizabeth Tang was found in the devices, and no incriminating evidence.

In mitigation, the defense said Marilyn Tang was awarded her master's degree in social work in 1987 and has been serving the local community ever since.

She committed the offense out of a natural desire to protect her sister who had just been arrested, her lawyer said.

Her lawyer added that the devices involved were with Marilyn Tang at the time she went to the police station to pay bail for her sister, which showed she had no intention of destroying evidence.