Jurors begin deliberations on 'Dragon Slaying' bomb plot

Eunice Lam

Nine jurors in the city's first anti-terrorism trial have began deliberating whether seven Dragon Slaying Brigade members are guilty of plotting to detonate bombs and use firearms to target police in 2019.

High Court judge Judianna Barnes Wai-ling finished giving instructions to the jury yesterday.

Before the six male and three female jurors retired at around 11am, Barnes called on them to reach a unanimous decision, though the decision on each charge should be agreed by at least seven jurors.

The defendants, six men and a woman, allegedly planned to detonate explosives and use firearms to target police during the Human Rights Day march on December 8, 2019.

The plot's two masterminds - brigade leader Wong Chun-keung and technician Ng Chi-hung - had pleaded guilty in February.

Barnes said evidence including surveillance camera footage that captured Ng, and the two bombs seized outside Wah Yan College, Hong Kong in Wan Chai, are "strong evidence," echoing the testimonies of prosecution accomplice witnesses Wong and Eddie Pang Kwan-ho.

The jury should have no difficulty in determining that there was an agreement in the case, but it remained for the jury to consider and decide, the judge said.

Barnes reaffirmed that the jurors should also consider the social background in the 2019 protest but not media reports that year, and only look at the evidence presented in the court, including the acts done by the brigade at that time.

No matter the level of involvement and the time of joining an agreement, Barnes said the defendants would be considered to have been involved once the jurors believe that they had an agreement for the committed offenses.

The jurors only needed to consider whether the defendants had intended to join the agreement - not necessarily whether it was put into effect.

Barnes said the defendants were not conspiring if they were not aware of the agreement, or they just pretended to join the agreement.

Quitting in the middle of the agreement should not be accepted as a reason for defense, she added.

The six male defendants have all pleaded not guilty to conspiring to place explosives, as well as to an alternative charge of conspiring to cause explosions that could endanger life, incur property damage and conspire to murder police.

The sole female defendant, Lau Pui-ying, 24, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiring to provide or collect property for terrorist acts.

One of the defendants, Christian Lee Ka-tin, 25, additionally faces a charge of possessing arms and ammunition with intent to endanger life.

Lee told the court earlier that police had threatened him into giving false statements.

Barnes said if the jurors accepted Lee's claims, then he would definitely not be found guilty.

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com