The first person to admit breaking a 2019 court injunction limiting protests at Hong Kong International Airport was spared jail on Tuesday, but must pay the government’s HK$400,000 (US$51,500) legal bill.

Retired correctional services officer Chin Po-fun, 60, was sentenced to 30 days in prison, suspended for 12 months, by the High Court, which also imposed a cost order sought by the Department of Justice, after she admitted criminal contempt of court for obstructing bailiffs executing the injunction in September that year.

The Airport Authority had obtained the injunction order from the same court on August 13, 2019 after hundreds of flights were cancelled amid days of chaos, with protesters blocking passengers from leaving, scuffling with them, and even holding two mainland Chinese men hostage.

The order bars a series of acts which include the unlawful and wilful obstruction or interference with “the proper use of the airport”, protests outside the designated area, and loitering without reasonable cause, among other things.

Bailiffs executed the order on September 7, during which Chin, a member of localist group People Power, joined some 40 protesters at the airport bus terminus, remained in the vicinity for an “extended period” of no more than two hours, and questioned how she was obstructing flights.

She was arrested by police after staff found her sitting on a bus stop bench without answering questions about which of the four routes she was going to take, or boarding the two buses that arrived in three minutes.

The incident took place while she was serving a suspended jail sentence for common assault of a High Court security guard, which is currently subject to an appeal.

In mitigation, defence counsel Li Kwok-wai said Chin was a “lone wolf” in a peaceful protest, which she did not organise.

Mr Justice Alex Lee Wan-tang said the airport was Hong Kong’s main door to the outside world and any obstruction “must be taken seriously”.

The judge concluded that Chin’s conduct was serious because she had deliberately and intentionally flouted a widely publicised court order and decided against leaving, despite numerous requests, warnings and opportunities for her to do so.

He also said bailiffs were to be respected as “an extended arm of the court”, and criminal contempt would present a direct challenge to the rule of law, which was the very foundation of Hong Kong.

“What the defendant did was totally unacceptable,” the judge said. “The present case calls for a custodial sentence.”

But he suspended the term after ruling the case was “borderline”, and took into account Chin’s apology, her guilty plea, and the fact her actions had not resulted in any significant obstruction or interference with the airport’s operations.

Chin offered to cover HK$50,000 of the department’s costs in taking out the present case after Jonathan Chang SC, for the plaintiff, presented a bill of HK$481,917.

The court did not hear the full extent of Chin’s financial means, except that she was a pensioner who had paid off the mortgage on her flat in Tuen Mun, while supporting her elderly father.

Lee questioned why a senior counsel was needed for sentencing a retiree of limited income, but eventually ordered Chin to pay HK$400,000 by May 11.

Outside court, Chin said the bill was unreasonable, given she was living on a HK$9,000 monthly pension.

“If I appeal, I would incur more legal fees,” she said.

Chin also maintained that she was waiting for a bus that had not arrived.

“But if I were to plead not guilty, you can add another zero to the end of [the HK$400,000] figure,” she said.