Teenager sent to rehab centre for trashing tea shop

Sha Tin Magistracy on Wednesday sent a teenager to a rehabilitation centre after he admitted to vandalising a Chinese tea shop in Sha Tin’s New Town Plaza last May, and resisting police.

The court heard that the 16-year-old, who cannot be identified due to his age, vandalised two cash registers and an octopus card machine worth around HK$15,000 at a Heytea branch on May 13, 2020 as protesters held anti-government rallies at malls across Hong Kong.

In mitigation, a defence lawyer said his client was truly remorseful about what he had done, and hopes to continue his studies at a rehabilitation centre.

Magistrate Jason Wan said while this was a serious case, he accepted that the defendant was genuinely remorseful and had learnt a big lesson.

He said his sentencing decision had taken into account the fact that the defendant was still young, did not have a criminal record, and that he had volunteered to pay HK$3,800 dollars to the store as compensation.