Woman jailed for a year for carrying petrol bombs

Senior inspector Ning Ka-shing described the one-year prison term as being 'relatively long' and said this shows that the courts take such cases seriously. Photo: RTHK

A 23-year-old woman was sentenced to a year in prison on Friday after pleading guilty to possessing three petrol bombs at a protest at Tai Po last October.



Her lawyer had argued that his client, a fashion designer, was only trying to remove the petrol bombs from the scene when she was caught by the police.



Officers found the petrol bombs in a rucksack the woman was carrying.



A Fanling magistrate deducted nine months from the starting point for the sentence in light of the woman's young age, her guilty plea, and the fact that she was a first-time offender.



Speaking after the hearing, senior inspector Ning Ka-shing described the one-year prison term as being "relatively long", and this shows the courts take such cases seriously.



Ning added that since the anti-government protests started last June, 67 people have been arrested on suspicion of possessing petrol bombs, with three of them sentenced to between 12 and 14 months in prison.



A group of people chanted "hang in there" as the woman was taken from the court in a prison van.