Hong Kong man gets 80 hours community service for tearing off ‘fingertip’-sized corner of election poster

2026-02-04 - 23:47

A Hong Kong man who tore off the corner of a poster promoting last year’s “patriots only” legislative elections has been sentenced to 80 hours of community service, after pleading guilty to damaging the promotional material “for fun”. Promotional materials for the 2025 Legislative Council election in North Point. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Mo Chi-kit, 23, was sentenced on Wednesday at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts by Principal Magistrate Don So over the criminal damage charge, The Witness reported. Magistrate So said that the risk of reoffending was not high, as he handed down the 80-hour community service order. The court heard that, on November 19 last year, Mo damaged two government posters on a Mong Kok footbridge that bore a slogan calling on residents to cast their ballots in the elections. After a police officer discovered the damage three days later, Mo was identified as the suspect in surveillance footage. He was accused of damaging the two posters without lawful excuse, with the intention to damage the property, or acting recklessly in a manner that could cause damage. ‘No criminal intent’ Mo admitted under police caution, after he was arrested in November, that he only damaged the posters “for fun,” while the defence argued that he had only torn off a “fingertip”-sized piece from one of the posters. There was no criminal intent behind Mo’s actions, the magistrate said on Wednesday, opting for a community service order as recommended by probation and community service reports. Election promotions were plastered across the city by the Registration and Electoral Office to promote the December 7 legislative polls last year. The elections were the second legislative polls held after Hong Kong revamped its electoral system to ensure only “patriots” would hold power in the city. Barriers outside West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court, in Hong Kong, on September 19, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. At least six other people were arrested over similar allegations involving the same posters and candidates’ campaign materials. One 45-year-old engineer was fined HK$1,000 last December for taking down a campaign poster for lawmaker Starry Lee, who is now legislative president. In another case, a septuagenarian was handed a four-week prison sentence last month, suspended for 18 months, for tearing down 10 election campaign posters for candidates Scott Leung and Vincent Cheng.