A Hong Kong man has been jailed for 18 years over a conspiracy to carry out three bomb attacks in early 2020, while two other defendants in the case have each been sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison.
High Court Judge Johnny Chan on Monday sentenced Lukas Ho, 41, to 18 years in prison for masterminding the bomb plots, which sought to place explosive devices at a hospital, a train carriage, and near a car park between January and March 2020.
Co-defendants Lee Ka-pan, 31, and Cheung Ka-chun, 35, were both sentenced to 16 years and eight months for being the “core members” in the conspiracy.
Lee was responsible for renting a unit that had stored the materials for making the bombs, while Cheung designed a remote device for detonation, the judge said.
Ho, Lee, and Cheung were among eight people prosecuted for the bomb plots, but only the three were convicted last month, following a lengthy jury trial that lasted over 160 days.
They were found guilty of a lesser charge with a maximum penalty of 20 years behind bars, after the jury acquitted them of an offence under the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance, which could result in life imprisonment.
The group was accused of planting a bomb at Caritas Medical Centre in January 2020, and another on a train heading to Lo Wu in February that year. Both bombs exploded, but no injuries were reported.
A third bomb attack was planned for March that year. The group allegedly conspired to place a bomb near a car park in Tseung Kwan O, where people would gather to pay tribute to a university student who died from head injuries following a fall in November 2019.
The plan was foiled, and the group was arrested on March 7, 2020, a day before the planned attack.
Sentencing the trio on Monday, Judge Chan said their actions amounted to “declaring war on society.”
“Instead of causing the loss of life, the [bomb plots] were aimed at destroying the stability and the structure of Hong Kong by threatening to cause harm,” Chan said in Cantonese.
“The offence was conducted over a long period,” the judge added. “The defendants had tasted an early success and pushed their luck.”
If the third bomb plot had been carried out, it would have caused heavy casualties to police officers and residents in the area, Chan said, citing experts’ testimony during the trial.
The judge also rejected the trio’s mitigation pleas, saying they did not demonstrate genuine remorse.
Chan did not offer any sentencing discount to Ho, who had previous convictions relating to driving and criminal damage.
The judge took four months off the starting 17-year sentence for Lee and Cheung on the grounds that the case was their first offence.
The court previously heard that the trio had resented the police and authorities in the wake of the protests and unrest in 2019.
Last year, a man was jailed for 23 years and 10 months after pleading guilty to the same offence over a separate bomb plot to murder police at a rally during large-scale pro-democracy protests and unrest in 2019 – the longest sentence handed out yet for a case relating to the protests.
