A 27-year-old taxi driver and his kindergarten-teacher girlfriend were sentenced to 17 and 13 months in prison, respectively, after admitting they sheltered four wanted 2019 protesters—including the shot teen icon Tsang Chi-kin—for over a year, funding safe houses and plotting a Taiwan getaway that ended in a police ambush.

The District Court heard how Yu Hin-lam and Ng Shuk-wai, both 27 and living together, knowingly hid the fugitives—Fung Ching-wah, Tsang Chi-kin, Wong Hoi-ming, and Wong Chun-yin—after the group skipped bail in October 2020.

The four had faced riot and unlawful assembly charges from separate clashes in Tsuen Wan, Admiralty, and Tseung Kwan O.

On October 27, 2020, Yu stood lookout outside the U.S. Consulate General while the protesters sought political asylum, an effort that failed when staff turned them away.

Over the next 21 months, the couple, along with accomplices still at large, rotated the group through three Tsuen Wan hotel rooms, two Kwai Chung industrial units, one office in a commercial building, and a private flat in Belvedere Garden.

Funds flowed from the YouTube channel, which also urged the fugitives to record thank-you videos and solicited donations for living costs and the eventual smuggling fee.

The escape collapsed on July 13, 2022, when a pre-dawn speedboat pickup at Pak Tam Chung turned into a police sting; all four were arrested on the spot.

Yu and Ng were detained by National Security police in February this year and identified in lineups by three of the protesters.

Judge Stanley Chan described the operation as large-scale and meticulously planned, with offshore actors likely involved and “lines already drawn” for a Taiwan handover.

He stressed that the 2019 unrest had torn society apart, brainwashing idealistic youth into becoming cannon fodder for unseen masterminds, leaving lifelong scars on families.

While noting the couple’s clean records, family support, and the near-zero chance of reoffending in today’s climate, he imposed deterrent sentences—30 months for Yu reduced to 17, and 24 months for Ng reduced to 13, citing her passion for early-childhood education.

Urging the pair to reflect and reject black-and-white thinking, the judge warned against being manipulated into battlefront roles, hoping they would instead contribute lawfully to society and their loved ones.