Workers carry out repair work after glass panels at a platform of the Mong Kok MTR station were broken by radicals on Nov 12, 2019. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG - A man accused of damaging facilities at a railway station in Hong Kong pleaded guilty to a criminal damage charge in court on Wednesday, and was sentenced to eight months in prison.

Video footage from surveillance cameras at the station showed that the defendant, a 30-year-old waiter, pulled out two fire hoses to spray water on turnstiles, ticket machines and other facilities

On Sept 6 last year, over 100 rioters stormed Mong Kok station of Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway. They vandalized facilities inside the railway station, including turnstiles, ticket machines and glass doors.

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Video footage from surveillance cameras at the station showed that the defendant, a 30-year-old waiter, pulled out two fire hoses to spray water on turnstiles, ticket machines and other facilities at around 10 pm that day.

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He was also accused of using a trekking pole to damage a surveillance camera and a fluorescent tube. The defendant was arrested and confessed to damaging those facilities.

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According to West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts, a total of 1.1 million Hong Kong dollars (around US$141,900) were needed to repair the damages to the Mong Kok station that day, while the damages caused by the defendant were worth 267,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$34,447).

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