‘Dragon Slaying’ leader admits to error in 2019 Hong Kong bomb plot allegations, court hears

“Even though you knew the [military training] in Taiwan was irrelevant to the whole plot, but in your understanding, you had to agree to the prosecution case because you were to plead guilty?” asked Mrs Justice Judianna Barnes.

Wong replied: “As I was pleading guilty to [charges against me], I knew I had to admit the summary of facts.”

When Wong pleaded guilty in February to a joint conspiracy charge of bombing prescribed objects and providing or collecting property to commit terrorist acts, a document summarising agreed-upon facts was read out in court.

It alleged the defendants had different roles in the plot and participated in a series of events between September to December that year to carry out the plot.

The seven defendants – Cheung Chun-fu, Cheung Ming-yu, Yim Man-him, Christian Lee Ka-tin, Lai Chun-pong, Justin Hui Cham-wing, and Lau Pui-ying – pleaded not guilty to the charges under the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance.

Lau is the only female defendant standing trial over her involvement in crowdfunding to provide money for the brigade.

In cross-examination by defence, Wong told the court that he contacted the officers in May last year to express his guilty plea intention.

The court earlier heard that during his negotiation for a plea bargain with the Department of Justice, he had to plead guilty to two charges, agree to the summary of facts, and testify for prosecution.

The court was also told that Wong might receive a maximum 25 per cent discount on his sentence by serving as a prosecution witness, on top of the other 25 per cent to reflect his guilty plea.

David Ma Wai-kwan, defence lawyer for Lau, questioned Wong’s credibility by pointing out his testimony in court on Tuesday was inconsistent with what he agreed in the prosecution’s summary of facts.

“Under cross-examination, you confirmed that the military training in Taiwan was completely irrelevant to the December 8 plot because there was no plan to kill officers or plant bombs in September,” Ma said to Wong, who agreed.

Ma further questioned whether Wong had agreed to something apparently wrong in the summary of facts because he worried that the Department of Justice would call it quits if he did not accept those facts in full.

Wong replied that the part indicating military training as part of the conspiracy was wrong, but he had admitted to it anyway.

The court heard that Wong had initially pleaded not guilty to all charges in the early stage of hearing in the Magistrates’ court in 2022 before his case was brought to the High Court for trial.

Ma argued that Wong had been remanded for nearly three years at that point since he was arrested on December 8 in 2019, and the long pre-trial detention should have given him enough time to go through the evidence against him.

However, Wong said he only had about two to three hours at night to read more than 20,000 pages of legal documents over those years in custody.

He added that some documents were not delivered in time because of the pandemic.

“At that time, I thought the lawyers assigned to represent me by the Legal Aid Department did not take my case seriously, so I made the decision [to plead not guilty] based on my own judgment,” Wong said.

Apart from the two charges Wong had already pleaded guilty to, he initially faced three other charges, including causing explosion likely to endanger life or property, conspiring or soliciting to commit murder, and possession of explosives.

These three charges were withdrawn by the prosecution over the plea bargain.

Ma pointed out that Wong had asked the fellow ringleader Ng Chi-hung for firearms to kill police, and that made him guilty for conspiring to commit murder.

“In my understanding, I am guilty of all these charges,” he replied.

The trial continues on Thursday.