Yau Wang-tat, a doctoral candidate, and the male secondary school student who was shot by a cop were charged with rioting. Yau also faced an alternate charge of taking part in an unlawful assembly, to which he pleaded guilty on September 16.

The student was shot in his chest by a cop during the clashes between protesters and cops in Tsuen Wan on October 1, 2019. Yau who was wearing black T-shirt approached the wounded student and was arrested as well.

Defense for Yau in mitigation said although his academic performance was not great in secondary school, he managed to graduated from university with first class honor. He even completed his PhD programme in physics after he was arrested in 2019, and had his thesis published on a recognized international journal.

The lawyer added Yau only wanted to help the wounded student, and had his hands in the air indicating that he had no intention to assault officers. Video footage also showed that he kept shouting “He was shot! Help him!” although being subdued by officers.

Deputy district judge Li Chi-ho said the unlawful assembly on that day was plotted, as protesters gathered in the name of National Day and caused a chaotic and violent scenes.

He also referred to footage that some outnumbered officers were surrounded and assaulted by protesters with weapons, highlighting the violence that occurred in the incident.

Li refused to hand down a lenient sentence, saying that Yau's contribution to the city can hardly be compared to contribution of others who received a less deterrent sentence. He noted Yau's personal and academic background as well, saying “there is nothing special about it”.

Li sentenced Yau to 18-month imprisonment and reduced his jail term by one-third for he pleaded guilty to the charge. Yau was sentenced to 12-month imprisonment in the end.