Three women granted bail after fight at Hong Kong shopping mall
A Hong Kong court granted bail to three women accused of taking part in an unlawful fight at the APM shopping mall in the Kwun Tong district. One of them was also charged with common assault against a five-year-old girl.
As Channel NewsAsia reports, the case concerns 68-year-old Leung Lai-ha, as well as 34-year-olds Ng Ka-wun and Xu Yang. According to court documents, the incident occurred on August 26 in the APM atrium. Videos circulated on social media showed an elderly woman pushing a girl and slapping her in the face, after which the child fell to the floor.
Release conditions
Each of the women was granted bail of HK$5,000, or US$638. Until the next hearing, they were banned from returning to APM and from contacting prosecution witnesses.
According to HK01, Leung, a retiree, and Ng, an insurance agent, are mother and daughter. Both are charged with fighting in a public place. Xu is the mother of the five-year-old girl surnamed Yeung who is seen in the video. Leung is separately charged with assaulting the child at the shopping mall that day.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Hearing adjourned
The case was heard at the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts in Kwun Tong. At the prosecution's request, the hearing was adjourned until November 5 so that the defense could obtain documents and discuss alternative ways of handling the case.
According to the South China Morning Post, the court denied Xu permission to travel to mainland China to see her family, taking into account the risk that she might flee. She was also barred from discussing the case with her daughter. HK01 reported that the women did not communicate with each other during the hearing.
After the video spread, police were called to the scene. AIA confirmed that an employee mentioned in online posts had been suspended from her duties pending internal procedures.
