A Hong Kong court has acquitted a woman of possessing a weapon when protests were taking place in a neighbouring district in 2019, after she was re-arrested upon returning to the city from Australia earlier this year.

Ami Chan was found not guilty of both charges of possessing an offensive weapon and possessing an item with intent to destroy or damage property at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday.

Magistrate Edward Wong ruled that she was not in the vicinity of the protests when she was arrested and cleared her of both charges.

Chan was arrested in Fortress Hill in September 2019 for possessing two laser pointers and three cans of spray paint, according to the prosecution.

She was 15 at the time, and was 21 when she was charged this year.

Protesters have been arrested – and some jailed – for possessing laser pointers, used to aim at police during the 2019 protests and unrest.

The protests escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment.

Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”

Six years

After Chan’s arrest in 2019, she refused bail and left Hong Kong, and was charged earlier this year upon returning to the city from Australia, according to the prosecution. She made her first court appearance in March.

The prosecution had earlier argued that the police were dispersing crowds in Causeway Bay and had observed people moving eastward, towards Fortress Hill.

But Magistrate Wong said that demonstrations held that day were in Admiralty and Wan Chai, not Fortress Hill where Chan was arrested. She did not attempt to flee, attack anyone, or commit any acts of vandalism or carry any offensive items, he said.

“On the contrary, she was just walking on the street,” Wong said in Cantonese.

The magistrate also said that Chan, unlike defendants in other cases who carried slingshots and hammers, had no items on her that could be used for attack.